The Arigatou Project
by Empatheia
Summary: A series of unrelated giftfic oneshots I'm doing for friends and reviewers. Mostly Inuyasha based, occasional lemons.
1. Teirlana Draco

_**The Arigatou Project- Prologue**_

Hello all! This is not your orthodox story, in case you're wondering. It's actually a bunch of one-shots I'm doing as thank-yous to my most faithful reviewers. They chose the anime, the pairing, and the scenario, and I wrote around it. Most of them are from Inuyasha so far, but there's also one from Fruits Basket and there might be others later.

There's a few... different... pairings in here, so don't stop reading if you're not one of the reviewers I'm thanking. These stories are all stand-alone and readable to all, so I'd appreciate outside reviews as well!

Thanks, and on with the show!

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Thank You #1- **Teirlana Draco**

_Anime- _Inuyasha

_Pairing- _Inu/Kag

_Scenario- _Modern day, possibly slightly AU

_Lemon- _yes... my first (concrit welcome on this point)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

_**Samsara**_

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Kagome stared for a long, long time. She contemplated every possible explanation. Then she contemplated some impossible ones, too. Finally, she reluctantly concluded that she had gone completely, utterly insane.

Strangely, she was not uncomfortable with this.

It was an ordinary supermarket, far from home. She had a package of, ironically, _ramen_ in her hands.

Osaka, ten years after everything. Ten years after the broken timeline that had delivered her into _his_ arms had snapped back to true with the completion of their mission, and the well had stopped working. Naraku was dead.

So was Inuyasha. They'd gone out in a blaze of mutual destruction, fire and blood and death at the far end of desperation. And then, before she'd even had a chance to assimilate the horror of that, the powers-that-be had evidently decided that her purpose was done and stopped bending the rules for her. She'd woken up in the exact same place, five hundred years later, and staggered back to her mother's arms through a river of tears.

Time had not healed anything, only soothed her gaping wounds. She'd gone on, moved on, lived on. After a while. And now, here she was in Osaka, trying to keep living without him. She'd gotten a job filing paperwork at a local office, rented a small apartment, and owned a cat. Not Buyo, he had finally drifted too far in his dreams of fish and leftovers and forgotten how to come back. Another cat. Another life.

She remembered to eat, most of the time. That's why she was there, in the supermarket, buying ramen. To keep her body alive for a little while longer. Because that's what _he_ would have wanted.

_Oh, Inuyasha._

It was uncanny, how much the boy down the aisle looked like him. He was standing looking unseeingly at a row of tomato sauce cans, obviously waiting for her to vacate the _ramen _section.

His hair was not quite so long, and black as night, and his eyes as blue as her own. Though he wore modern clothing, dark torn jeans and a dark orange t-shirt, her mind kept trying to overlay images of something red and fireproof.

Kagome stared at the man who looked like Inuyasha and tried not to cry.

Eventually, he noticed and crinkled his brow at her. "Hey, you! What're you gawkin' at?"

She nearly lost her balance. Even his voice was the same rough rasp, sarcastic and gruff. She tried to answer him, but couldn't suck in enough breath.

"Hey! I asked you a question! You got a problem or something?"

He stalked up to her and peered right into her face. "Hey... you look kinda familiar. You lived here long?"

_Too much! s_he thought frantically. _I'm going to cry, I just know it. God, he looks just like him. The powers that be must hate me._

"No," she squeaked, "I've only been here a few months."

His eyes narrowed. "Hey, you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost," he said gruffly. "You sick or something?"

"No, I'm not sick."

"Then what's wrong?"

She struggled to find words that weren't crazy, that wouldn't make him run away and leave her again. "You just remind me of... someone I used to know. It just startled me, seeing your face. I'm sorry for staring."

He straightened and scratched his head. "I don't mind. It's not every day a guy has pretty girls staring at him in the corner store, you know."

She blushed and hung her head, her hair falling around her eyes.

"And besides, like I said, you look kinda familiar too. You sure we've never met?"

"Oh, yes. Quite sure."

"Well, in that case... nice to meet you." He bowed, gracefully. "I'm Hanataro Akio, what's your name?"

"Higurashi Kagome," she answered faintly, and bowed back. _I'm dreaming. He's nicer than Inuyasha, but in every other way just exactly the same. _

"Kagome... that's a nice name. So, who do I remind you of?"

She blushed a little deeper. "My first boyfriend," she half-lied.

He blinked. "No wonder you were staring. You had such a weird expression on your face, you had me worried there."

"Sorry."

"No problem." He paused, then sighed. "Hey."

"What?"

"You um... you wanna get a coffee? I don't have to work for a few hours yet, and I've got nothing to do until then. How about it?"

A million thoughts exploded in her head at once.

_Yes, please god yes!_

_But... am I only looking for Inuyasha in him? That's not really fair to him._

_Yesyesyesyesyes..._

_What if he turns out to be nothing like him? Can I survive that?_

_Yesyesyesyesyes..._

_Am I strong enough to give my heart again?_

_For chrissakes, get a hold of yourself, Kagome. It's just coffee, he's not asking you to marry him. You'll never be able to live with yourself if you don't do this."_

She decided.

"Yes, I'd like that," she said softly, and smiled at the man who wasn't the one she wanted, the one who would never come back.

"There's a place near here, Colossi's. You know where it is?"

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak anymore.

"Great. Meet you there in an hour?"

She nodded again, and smiled.

"See you there, Kagome."

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

Over the next few months, Kagome and Akio went for coffee twenty-seven times.

They talked, and learned things about eachother, and she fell in love with him as though she'd always loved him, which in a way she had.

The eighteenth time, she told him about the well and her other life, and about a monk, a huntress, and a fox child that had loved her as a mother. He grew still and quiet. She held her breath and prayed he wouldn't think her crazy and leave.

He didn't. "I believe you," he said quietly. "It's crazy, but I believe you. I'm not sure why, I know deep down that you're telling the truth."

The twenty-third time, she told him about Inuyasha and what she'd felt for him, and about how he'd died.

Akio shuddered and reached across to grasp her hand. "No wonder you were staring, that first day. You must have thought you'd seen a ghost for _real._" She looked at his hand on the table and wondered for the four thousand five hundred and seventy-second time if perhaps, perhaps she could allow herself to let it happen.

The twenty-seventh time, she left her car at the coffee shop and they went out for dinner. Over Italian and fine wine, he formally asked her out. It seemed a formality they'd accidentally forgotten, instead of something of great importance.

The next time, they went to a movie, and he held her hand through all the scary parts.

The next time after that, they went to a festival and rode the Ferris Wheel, a Western delight she'd never seen before. She clung to him when it started to move, and even when she'd gotten over her fear she didn't let go. Later, he won a stuffed animal for her at a shooting game. His reflexes and coordination were achingly familiar, just like everything else about him.

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On the forty-third date, he stopped her as they walked along the riverbank. "Hey, do you believe in reincarnation?" he asked, sounding indifferent but badly hiding the anxiety beneath his voice.

"No," she said, and kissed him.

His lips were warm, and it took a while before she caught herself pretending they belonged to someone else. Then, she discovered that somehow she'd stopped needing them to be anyone else's-- and was so shaken she pulled away.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and she knew he was hurt.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't being fair to you."

He asked what she meant, but she didn't answer.

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He asked her about reincarnation again on the fifty-first date.

"I'm not sure," she said, this time. "Why do you ask?"

He leaned back, rocking his chair and staring at the ceiling. "Because, every day I'm more certain that I've known you before. The story of Inuyasha rings true with me, and sounds more familiar than it could or should if things were normal. Every day, I wonder a little bit more if, maybe the Buddhists have it right with their circle of death and rebirth, Sakura or whatever."

"Samsara," she corrected, thunderstruck. It _couldn't _be. Inuyasha was dead. Akio looked like him, and that was all. It _had _to be all. Because... if this was him...

"Whatever. I could be wrong. It's just a really weird feeling, is all. You've said yourself that I look like him."

"It's more than that," she said without thinking, and immediately wished she could swallow the words that hung between them on glistening, fragile threads.

"How so?" he asked softly, eyes sad and knowing.

Tears burned her eyes and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "You don't just _look _like him. You sound like him, you talk like him, you smile like him, even _scoff_ like him, and everything you do is what he might have done if he hadn't been scarred by Kikyou when he met me. It's so easy to forget, sometimes, that you're not actually him."

"So _that's _what you meant that other time."

"What?"

"That day on the riverbank. You said 'I'm not being fair to you.' I didn't get it, but now I do. You were pretending I was him, and were angry with yourself for it."

She lowered her head in shame and averted her eyes. "I'm so sorry. You deserve to have all of me, but I..."

"Kagome," he interrupted.

She looked up at him with tortured eyes.

"Shut up."

He took one look at her shocked expression and began to laugh. "God, you can be so thick sometimes."

"I don't understand."

"Kags, I'm not even sure that I'm _not _this Inuyasha guy. Half the time when you slip and call me by his name, I don't even notice. The name sounds right to some part of me. And the more we talk about these people you knew, the more I'm sure I know them."

She shook her head violently. "It's not possible, please stop. It only hurts more when you say things like that."

He was silent for a moment. Then he sighed, and when she met his eyes, they were deeper than before. Older. "You want me to prove it to you?"

"Akio, stop it! You can't! Inuyasha was Inuyasha, and you're you. Just please, let it go!"

He shook his head, almost angry now. Ferociously his eyes seized her and he began to rattle off in monotone the end of the world as she knew it. "Shippou liked green Skittles best. Sango knew how to play the flute. Sesshoumaru also has two stripes on his thighs, just like his wrists. I once stubbed my toe on your backpack in human form and swore so loudly you sat me for 'assaulting Shippou's virgin ears.' You used to practice with that stupid bow unti your fingers bled. Kikyo... Kikyo had a soft spot for the color blue."

Kagome forgot how to breathe.

"I told you, it sounded familiar when you told me. Since then, I've started to see pictures to match what you're saying, and then just recently... I started seeing things you hadn't told me yet. Kagome..."

She was weeping, now. He stopped talking and let her cry.

Then, he took her hand and drove her home.

"Inuyasha... I mean, Akio..."

"It doesn't matter. Call me whichever name you want. Just let me in, I'm not finished talking yet."

She opened the door and he stepped into her apartment. It occurred to her, when he looked around in a slightly lost manner, that he'd never been here before. He looked strange, standing in her kitchen like a memory done slightly wrong.

"Do you want a drink?"

"You got a beer?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later, they sat awkwardly on her tattered red couch and stared at eachother.

"This beer is actually pretty good."

"I'm glad."

Silence.

"Er..." they both started, simultaneously, and then laughed. The tension broke with an almost audible snap.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently with a smile on his face. "I can't believe you waited for me," he said, and she gasped.

Not 'him.'

_Me. _

"Akio... you just..."

He turned to look at her, deep blue eyes fathomless in the low light. "I told you, I remember. The line between him and me is pretty blurred, now. After all, he's sort of me. I guess. It's confusing, but what I mean to say is..."

She was crying again, helpless tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Oi, don't cry, Kagome! What I mean to say is... I remember you. And thanks for waiting."

"You're _late,_" she cried, and when she saw his expression deepen she broke completely and everything she'd forced herself not to feel flooded her. She felt completely without volition, her limbs blown about here and there by the force of what she'd dammed up.

Unable to stop herself, Kagome hurtled across the couch and into his arms.

"Oh, _Inuyasha,_" she whispered, finally giving herself permission now that all doubt was gone. "I missed you _so much_."

"Kagome," he said hoarsely, and then she kissed him.

There would be no pulling back, not this time. Akio _was_ Inuyasha, and Inuyasha was Akio, so there was no need to pretend, no need to hold back or feel shame. There was only him, just the one, and no more conflict to tear her apart.

"Inuyasha," she said one more time, just to hear the sound of his name and see the recognition in his eyes, and surrendered to his lips.

He ravished her mouth with all the frustrated desire of five hundred and ten years of waiting, tongue drinking her like a man dying of thirst. She returned his ardor shyly, unsure of what to do.

His arms circled around her, as though trying to pull her into himself and eliminate all separation. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled out the tie so it spilled over her fingers, only inches shorter than her own. It had the same texture as she remembered, and for a while she just stroked the silky mass of it and let herself be happy.

"May I?" he asked after an endless span of time. It took her a long minute to figure out what he was talking about, lost in desire and halfway out of her head with bliss. His hands were on the straps of her tank top.

"Oh," she said when she remembered how to speak. "Yes, please." She lifted her arms and let him pull the flimsy blue fabric away from her. His fingers skated over her sides and she shivered, goosebumps rising to meet his fingertips. Instinctually, she reached for the buttons of his shirt.

It had all the reverent, worshipful air of ritual as they carefully disrobed eachother and stared in wonder at each newly exposed plane of flesh.

When he took her bra off, at last, he sucked in an audible breath and shuddered. "Beautiful," he murmured, half articulate, and buried his face between her breats while his hands continued their path of destruction among her garments.

"Ummmmm," she groaned, certain she was going to say something important but unable to remember what it might have been. "Ummmm, bedroom!"

"Nnnnggg?" Inuyasha/Akio answered.

"This way," she gasped, and tore herself away long enough to lead him towards her darkened bedroom. She had a king-size bed-- her one indulgence, though she had never shared it. He lifted her and launched the both of them into the middle of the vast creamy expanse.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck and inhaled, remembering many long journeys on his back. He smelled the same, though a little tainted by the smells of the modern world.

Impatiently he divested himself and her of the last impeding scraps of material and devoted himself to the worship of her. She could feel _it_, then, against her leg-- a few degrees warmer than the rest of him and hairy at the base. Involuntarily she stiffened a little, but forced herself to relax.

"Trust me," he whispered, and not waiting for her nod, slid lower, lower, lower until his face was enveloped in the softness of her thighs.

"Oh," she gulped, voice small and tight, as his tongue flickered against her just _there_. Nothing Kagome had ever done to herself in the dark of the night had ever felt quite that exquisite, and she writhed a little, helplessly. Her fingers tightened in the silky fabric of her duvet as she struggled not to move.

When he dipped his tongue into her, Kagome lost track of time and space and stared starry-eyed at the ceiling. There were noises escaping her throat, and she couldn't have stopped them if she'd wanted to.

It was a long, long time before he pulled himself up and away, sliding up her sweating body to rest between her breasts. After a moment, he started in on them, and Kagome gave up all attempts to stay quiet and groaned loudly. His tongue felt like fire on her swollen, aching tips. She knew her neighbours could hear them, now, and didn't care in the slightest.

"Inu-_yasha_," she hiccupped, short of breath and half-dead of rapture.

In answer, he hummed against her nipples and she gasped. "_Oh!_"

Long minutes later, he raised his head. "Kagome?"

"Yes, please!" she begged, nodding vigorously.

His face was covered with sweat from the effort of holding back, so she trailed her fingers across his damp forehead. He swept down and kissed her fiercely, trapping her fingers between them.

"I love you," he said when he pulled away. "I don't think I've ever said that before, in either life. Sorry for that."

"You don't have to apologize. I think I knew anyways. Inuyasha, Akio, whoever you are--I love you too."

And just like that, the overtaxed bonds that had been restraining him snapped and he fell on her like a predator on its prey. His hands, hot and demanding, were everywhere, and she couldn't breathe through his lips on hers.

Where before she'd felt desire, clear and teasing, now she was drowning in passion. Raging, redfire passion that would not be appeased. "_Please!_" she howled, dying of emptiness.

"It'll hurt," he warned, and positioned himself at the gateway to heaven.

"I don't care!"

Lowering his head, he bit her hard on the neck as he simultaneously hunched forwards, driving himself towards Paradise. She shrieked, but more at the pain on her neck than the one lower down. "That hurt!" she cried, rubbing her neck. He smiled.

"Oh. You did that on purpose."

"Kagome?"

"Hnnn?"

"Stop talking." His mouth swept down, tongue fiercely thrusting to compensate for holding everything below his neck completely still. He held himself that way, halfway sheathed in her and shaking rigidly, and waited for her to catch up.

The sharp pain faded into liquid aching after a while, and she sighed happily.

Cautiously, he pushed a little further in. She moaned at the sensation of the rougher skin of his shaft abrading her inner flesh. Reassured, he drew outwards and slowly pushed in again.

They both sucked in a breath, and locked eyes. Ocean grey-blue and the true, deeper blue of fathomless lakes. She nodded once, slowly, and with a cry of relief he lunged into her and began to thrust almost frantically.

Her eyes widened. She met his thrusts, once she learned the rhythm, and drew ragged, gasping breaths in time. Increasingly, she began to feel like an elastic stretched too far, splintering around the edges. Kagome dug her fingernails into the bunched muscles of Akio/Inuyasha's back and closed her eyes. Her legs came up of their own volition to wrap around his bucking hips.

He seized her mouth once again, wild with need, and this time her tongue fought back.

_Languid, fierce _

_liquid, rasping _

"Faster!" she cried, and he complied with a low, rumbling growl by redoubling his speed.

She wailed, long and agonized by the sharp edge of oblivion. "_Inuyasha!_" she howled.

"_Kagome!_"

He shifted a little, just so, and his hips slammed against the exact right spot. She shrieked and threw her head back, racked by waves of impossible rapture.

A split second later, he roared and collapsed on her, shaking and gasping.

"Is it... always like that?" she murmured in his ear, awed.

"I wouldn't know," he answered raggedly. "I waited for you, too."

"Oh."

He made as if to roll away, but she tightened her arms and legs around him and refused to let him move. The warmth of him atop her, the reassuring heavy strength, made her feel safer than she'd ever felt.

They fell asleep that way, naked on top of the ivory bedspread.

It had been a long, long time coming.

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On the sixty-seventh date, he made her dinner and served her a ring along with the chocolate dessert.

Again, it was like a formality they'd almost forgotten while living.

"Sorry for messing up last time," he said. "I hope I've got it right, now."

"_Baka,_" she gasp-laughed. "Yes, of course I'll marry you. There's no Naraku, here, so you have no excuse this time for running away."

"Oi! That was a noble self-sacrifice, not running away!"

She smiled smugly as she slid the silver ring onto her finger and admired the heart-shaped diamond. "Whatever you say, Inuyasha."

"Wench! I did not _run away_!"

She looked slowly up at him, with an expression he had cause to remember.

"Er..."

"Inuyasha, darling," she said, cloyingly sweet.

"Kagome, I'm..."

"Sit."

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Geep! My first lemon! Please don't crucify me! Let me know what you all thought of it, including tips since I now to write a few more for the other people I'm thanking. Also concrit on the rest of the story very very welcome. Pretty please!

**Thank you, Teirlana Draco. I hope you liked it.**


	2. JenniferJ

**A/N- **Chapter Two of my thank you project. This one's for you, **JenniferJ!**

OoooooooooooooooooooO

**Thanking: JenniferJ**

**Show: **Inuyasha

**Pairing: **Shippou/Souten

**Scenario: **Playing together, cutesy.

**Lemons: **God no.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**Things to Do in the Sengoku Jidai When You're Bored**_

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"Kagomeeeee," Shippou whined. "I want some candy!"

"Don't be so rude, Shippou-chan," she scolded. "I don't have any more, you'll just have to wait until I go home for some more."

"But I neeeeed it! Waahh!"

The pretty priestess-in-training looked down at him patiently. "I'm sorry, Shippou. I honestly don't have any!"

The little _kitsune _pup slumped visibly. "Play with me, then? I'm bored!"

Kagome sighed. "Sorry, Shippou-chan. I'm studying right now. Maybe later?"

This was not going well. Giving up on his foster mother as an obvious lost case, he turned and scoped the scene. Now, who was most likely to indulge him? Easy. "Sannnnggoooo!" he cried plaintively. "Play with me!"

But no-- the _taijiya _shook her head regretfully and squatted down to pat him on the head affetionately. "Sorry, Shippou-chan. Miroku and I are going to spar for a while, but I promise I will when we get back."

Shippou stared in disbelief. Even Sango was abandoing him? _Traitor! _He steeled his nerves and pivoted in place towards a tree stump across the firepit. The stump was currently occupied by a sullen scarlet lump who was muttering ill-naturedly under his breath and flexing his claws. Normally, Shippou would have taken that as a nice clear hint to stay well out of reach. But he was _bored._ It was time for the last resort.

"Inuyaaaaasha!"

"Whaddya want, brat?" the lump said, uncurling into a very bad-tempered silver-haired half-demon boy. Uneasily, Shippou eyed the uncomfortably sharp claws the hanyou was currently brandishing. Boredom was a harsh mistress.

"Play with me!" he blurted desperately. If this didn't work...

"No."

"Waahhhh! Why won't anybody play with me?" he wailed disconsolately. "I'm so bored!"

"We've all got better things to do," the _hanyou _drawled, sounding just as trapped in a state of stultifying boredom as Shippou was. However, he also showed no signs of wanting to remedy that. Shippou was ready to weep with frustration.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried. "Be nice to Shippou!"

"Or you'll what?" Inuyasha's mouth snapped shut as he considered the idiocy of what he'd just said. Kagome was fully capable of putting him in his place, in extremely painful and humiliating ways. "Never mind! Forget I sa..."

"Sit," she said absently, not lifting her head from her history textbook. Inuyasha slammed into the ground facefirst with a crunch, filling his open mouth with slimy-invertebrate-infested dirt. Shippou shrieked with laughter, overjoyed at the highly interesting turn of events. That high quickly soured as the spell wore off. The _hanyou _growled threateningly and began to extricate himself from the new crater.

"You little..."

"Eeek!" Shippou shrieked, and bolted in the shadows of the surrounding trees. "Don't let him hurt me, Kagome!"

"Inuyasha, leave Shippou alone."

"Keh." The half-demon, now significantly dirtier and a great deal less dignified, regained his perch on the tree stump and scowled across the fire at Kagome. "I'll kill you tomorrow, Shippou. Right now I don't have the energy to bother."

Shippou felt strangely disappointed by this- even _Inuyasha _wasn't interested in pounding him. The little circle of comrades was utterly silent, almost oppressively so. "I'm going to go look for some mushrooms," he said grumpily. "Come save me if I'm not back in three hours."

"Whatever," Inuyasha said, yawning. "Like I care if you get eaten, you little shrimp."

Shippou stuck his tongue out at the brash red-clad boy and marched off into the woods. _Stupid Inuyasha. Stupid everybody. Why won't anybody play with me? I'm booooorred! _

Though it was still a good two hours away from sunset, the woods were dark and silent. He shivered, feeling the little rusty hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It wouldn't do to return to the campsite without any mushrooms now-- Inuyasha would just tease him about being cowardly and he'd never live it down.

_Nope, nothing for it. I just gotta find some mushrooms and head back. Eeee, but it's so creepy here, away from the campfire! _

He scuffled in the damp earth at the foot of trees and peered beneath the underbrush determinedly. To his despair, it seemed that every mushroom in the entire forest had gone into hiding upon hearing him coming. Not a one! Not a single, measly yellowcap or parasol to be found!

"Aaaarrrggghh!" he wailed. "This is _not _my day!"

"Oi!" a voice cried suddenly from above him.

Shippou launched a good three feet into the air, which was impressive considering that his own total height came to rather less than that. "Aiieee! Kagome! Inuyasha! Somebody save me!"

Derisive laughter. "You're such a baby! I'm not going to hurt you!" A slight figure, slim and dressed in baggy clothing, dropped from the branches of the overhanging tree. Tossing a slightly disheveled black braid over its shoulder, the figure addressed him. "Long time no see, fox brat."

"You," Shippou replied nonchalantly while desperately trying to remember their name. He remembered where he'd met her, and had been so traumatized by it that it appeared he'd subconsciously blocked her name. _S something? Senji? Sokan? Sou... sou something. Darn it!_

"'You?'" the figure echoed sarcastically. "Jeez, you don't even remember me, do you?" She stepped into the light and flashed baleful reddish eyes at Shippou.

"I do too! Er... Sou...kai?"

"Souten," she corrected impatiently. "Remember?"

And suddenly, he did. _Oh. _"What are you doing here?" he blurted, and then immediately clapped small hands over his overactive mouth. "Er, I mean... nice to see you?"

"Hmph. I should be asking what _you're _doing here. You are, after all, on _my _lands."

"We are?"

"Duh. You are such a dolt."

"Hey!"

"You wanna fight?"

This presented an interesting opportunity. Shippou was bored. Shippou did not want to be alone. Souten wanted to roughhouse.

"Yes!" he cried happily, and immediately threw the first thing that came to hand. Which turned out, amusingly enough, to be an acorn.

"Wow, this is nostalgic," Souten commented as she manifested her trademark hordes of madly giggling magic acorns.

"Not so fast!" Shippou whipped out his counterattack-- equally raucous hordes of shrieking mushrooms. "Ready?"

"Whenever you are!"

Shippou smirked and assumed a solid martial arts stance. "Take this!"

For the next few minutes, the forest became obscured by storms of hurtling small objects as Shippou and the thunder demon girl happily pelted each other with bits of flora and reminisced about their last meeting.

"You've changed your hair," Shippou yelled over the pandemonium of yowling nuts and fungi. "You don't look like a psychotic bush anymore."

Her two decidedly frizzy bunches of spiky hair were gone, replaced by a sleek black braid identical to her older brother Hiten's.

"You're changed your outfit," she retorted, pointing out the absence of the little leather jerkin he'd always worn, and the addition of an deep orange haori. "You don't look like a traveling rag merchant anymore."

"Thanks!"

"Now you just look like a malformed pumpkin."

"I take it back. Eat fungus!"

"Oof! Ew, gross!"

"Gotcha," Shippou gloated.

"Don't get too excited! I'm not done yet!"

A few minutes later, they collapsed in a contented heap of demon and miscellaneous vegetative detritus.

"That was fun," Shippou gasped.

"I win!" she proclaimed, struggling to catch her breath.

"You do not."

"Do too!"

"Since when?"

"You fell over first!"

Shippou drew an outraged breath. "I fell over because _you_ looked like you were going to pass out! I was being considerate!"

"Doesn't matter. And I was _not _going to pass out."

"Cheater."

"Dolt."

A few more minutes passed in companionable almost-silence as they slowly regained their exhausted energies.

"Oi, Souten," Shippou said at last.

"Mmmrrrfff?"

"You wanna go back and colour? Kagome brought me a whole new box of crayons, there's sixty-four different colours in this one!"

Souten's reddish eyes widened and she bit her lip. Shippou instantly understood that she really, really wanted to say yes, but was far too proud to let him have the upper hand. He grinned widely. There were ways around that...

"Of course, I'll understand if you don't want to watch my vastly superior artistic skills crush yours into the dirt. Avoiding such embarassment is perfectly understandable..."

"Stop that, you sound like a pompous dork when you try to talk like a _taiyoukai. _And your skills are _not _'vastly superior' to mine. I can draw better than you blindfolded and using my feet."

Shippou snorted. "Yeah, right. Big talk, but can you back it up?"

Souten froze, an expression of half-joyous wonderment on her face. It seemed she'd suddenly comprehended the loophole Shippou was offering her. "Of course," she snapped haughtily to cover her happiness, and began to stalk off in a perfectly random-looking direction.

"Oi, where're you going?"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "To your campsite, of course!"

_It's that way? ...Oh._

What was it about her that could make him feel like an utter idiot without her having to say a word? Girls! They were all alike! Shippou let out what he thought was a manly harrumph, though in reality it sounded more like a strangled badger coughing.

"Hey Shippou, when do you turn seventy-seven?"

He crinkled his brow. That was a decidedly odd question. "I'm only thirty-four, so not for a while yet," he replied. "Why do you ask?"

She heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Seventy-seven is the age of maturity, didn't you know? Then we can get married!"

Shippou stopped dead in his tracks and desperately tried to keep his eyeballs in his sockets and his mouth shut. He only partially succeeded, with the unfortunate result of creating the most horrendously mutated expression she'd ever seen. One of his eyes bulged outwards maniacally, while the other was tightly shut, and his conflicted lips formed a spectacularly mangled grimace. "Urk?" he squeaked.

"Of course!" she sang, hands clasped together. "Shippou-kun, we're _meant _to be together! It's _destiny!_"

He stared at her in absolute horror, andcontemplated ritual _seppuku _on the eve of his seventy-seventh birthday. Would history remember him honourably, he wondered in horror, if he killed himself in a horrible and gory way rather than marry a highly eligible and landed demon princess? They stood that way for a long, long second, and he decided he didn't care if the high council declared him anathema and disowned him from the _youkai _ranks posthumously. _Seppuku _it would be.

Then, shockingly, she burst out into hysterical, gasping laughter and collapsed to roll in the moss. Tears ran down her face as she kicked the air frantically. "Oh, Shippou-kun, you should have _seen _your face," she howled. "That was... that was..." She gave up on finishing the sentence and elected to laugh harder. She was turning red in the face.

Shippou was non-plussed. "Not funny," he grumbled.

"Oh!" she gasped, clutching her gut. "Priceless! I'll have to remember that line for future use!"

"Say it too often and I won't know the difference if you mean it one day!" he warned.

"Like I'd ever _actually _marry you!" she snorted, pulling herself off the ground and proudly dusting off the bits of foliage that were stuck to her clothing.

Shippou relaxed. "Good! 'Cause I'm _never _getting married," he announced. "Girls are icky."

"Boys are ickier!"

He stuck his tongue out at her. "Race you back to the camp!"

"Try not to be late! And don't get lost!" she called as she bolted in the still-random looking direction. He followed her, little legs pistoning furiously. She was taller than him by a few inches, and was using those inches ruthlessly.

"Slowpoke!"

"_Girl!"_

"You say that like it's an insult, _boy_!" she taunted, easily keeping several paces ahead of him.

"It is! I hope you're not planning on tagging along with us for too long!" Translation from Shippou-ese: _I hope you're staying for a while. _

"No, probably not, you guys are boring!" Translation from Souten-ese: _I'll stay if you'll feed me!_

The days ahead suddenly looked bright and promising to Shippou. Boredom grumbled bad-naturedly and skulked off to sulk in a dark corner, recognizing that it was being unceremoniously evicted. It was not impressed, but what was it to do? Souten was a singularily anti-boring sort of person.

Shippou grinned and ran a little harder.

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

**A/N- **Thanks for everything, **JenniferJ**! I hope you enjoyed this! See you next chapter!


	3. Vega Sailor

**A/N- **Okay... it's now three in the morning and I'm freakin' _wiped. _But it's done. And I think it's less than absolute dung, though I could be wrong. Let me know.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

**Thank You #3- Vega Sailor**

**Show: **Inuyasha

**Pairing: **Inutaisho/Ryuukotsusei

**Scenario: **Before Sesshoumaru's mother, there was...

**Lemons: **Nope. _Amazing_.

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

_**Liar**_

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

The boy was dying. He stood shaking in a pool of his own blood, holding his sword up with a blue-white arm. The enemies around him, Southron demons and ugly as sin, were less pathetically weak than usual, and many, so that even the boy's extraordinary strength was close to exhausted. His clothing might have once been white.

He was a demon, that much was blindingly clear. Tall and straight-backed, with silver hair nearly to his knees, he was far more beautiful than any human could ever hope to be. There were sharp lacerations of indigo scoring his cheeks in a double-line-- his clan marking. They were also on his wrists and ankles, and less visibly his thighs. There was no possible way to mistake what he was.

The watcher, a demon himself and possibly just as beautiful, stood easily balanced on a swaying tree branch, watching the tragic scene impassively.

One eye swollen half-shut and clogged with blood, the demon boy with moonbeams for hair struggled to keep his sword up. Licking their lips, the hideous inferior demons advanced, hardly even winded. A good three dozen of their kin lay in confused pieces, strewn about the little meadow.

_Blood on flower petals, on grass. Red on green and pink and blue. Shining. Reeking of iron and death._

The demon man watched and savored the aura of courage and doom that hung over the meadow. It was intoxicating.

The boy was truly beautiful, like this: standing under the weight of the black sword against the back of his neck. Even still, his eyes like tainted diamonds flashed and whirled, and his teeth were bared and defiant.

The demons advanced.

The watcher found himself caught, unexpectedly, in a dilemma. The boy was far too beautiful to simply die here, without any to witness his glory. And the opponents were not worthy. However, the watcher did not like to involve himself in things like this-- it seemed to spoil the mood, somehow. To let die, or not? An interesting puzzle.

"Hmph," he said to himself, and drew his sword. He was bored anyways.

The boy, as though sensing imminent rescue, seemed to find a reservoir of strength from somewhere and began to flail clumsily with the sword. He could not have been more than four hundred years old. The watcher was not really that much older than him, a few centuries at most, but he was polished where the boy was not; experienced where the boy was raw and untested.

With the ease of long practice, he soared from his tree branch and became a vengeful violet comet amidst the inferior ranks of the Southrons. Red complemented his colouring well, and he was rarely averse to covering himself in it. And soon, indeed, he was. It soaked into the tightly furled braids of his deeply purple hair, framed his jewelesque green eyes. Red was a beautiful color. It was too bad he was wearing black; blood did not show up well against things darker than it.

It was over quickly. The watcher was mildy disappointed at being denied some decent exercise. For a moment, he wished he could revive the squadron and slaughter them again, more satisfyingly. If wishes were fishes... It was not to be. He sighed and accepted the boringness of the expedition, and then turned to the trembling, defiant boy. Apparently, the boy had lost so much blood he was no longer coherent, for the next moment he swung his sword with all the desperate strength of those near to death... in the wrong direction. The watcher parried easily despite being taken halfway by surprise.

"Stop waving that around, you're more likely to take your own foot off the way you're carrying on," the watcher said irritably.

The boy's fiery gaze did not diminish in the slightest, but the sword sank to the ground with a thud and did not move again. It was now taking everything he had just to stand.

"I will not... surrender," the boy gasped.

"Surrender? To who? Look around, boy-- there's nobody left to surrender _to_."

"Chichi-ue," the ragged mouth whispered, seeming to not have heard. "I am sorry." Gracelessly, he collapsed and lay deathly still in a pool of blood and curling moonbeams. The sun labored downwards against its upward impetus. It would set in about an hour, the watcher guessed.

Sighing in a long-suffering way, he hoisted the limp, bony weight of the boy onto his shoulder and set off for shelter. Somewhen, for vague and unimportant reasons, he'd set his mind on saving the boy. Really, truly saving him, in every way possible. When the watcher was done with him, he'd never need saving again.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

The boy woke up like the sun rising-- slowly and gloriously. Upon discovering the watcher several feet away, he started convulsively and made as if to draw the sword that was no longer fastened to the belt that was no longer there. His ruined torso was carefully, expertly bound with strips of his own _haori_, and the sword was lying innocently several feet away.

"Who are you?" the boy cried, fiercely concealing his fear.

Stretching languidly and crossing lean legs, the watcher drawled his answer. "My name, if that's what you meant, is Ryuukotsusei. And you, if I'm not mistaken, are an _inuyoukai_ from the West. You're a long way from home, boy."

The boy drew himself up proudly into a crosslegged position, ignoring the pain. "I am not '_boy'._ My _name_ is Inutaisho. And you, if I am not mistaken, are a _ryuyoukai_ from the East. You are also a long ways from home."

Amused, Ryuukotsusei slapped a hand on his armor-clad knee. "That I am, _boy_. That I am."

"Stinking lizard! Call me by name or suffer the consequences!"

The dragon demon stared for a moment disbelievingly, and then burst into appreciative laughter. "I didn't think people said things like that anymore. How amusing."

Inutaisho flushed a fierce red and averted his face so that his pale locks fell straggling across his cheek. "When Father says those things, it sounds intimidating," he explained sheepishly.

The dragon threw his head back a laughed, long and freely, until tears flowed brightly down his cheeks. "Ah, boy, you _are _interesting. I'm almost glad I saved you."

"You mean... oh." Kneeling gracefully, Inutaisho bowed deeply. "I thank you for your assistance. Is there a way in which I can repay you?"

Ryuukotsusei raised one thin purple eyebrow and appeared to consider. "Well... if you really want to repay me..."

"I owe you my life. Name your conditions."

The dragon snapped his fingers cheerfully. "Well then! You have to let me train you for one year."

Seeing the utterly confused look on the gangly dog demon's angular face, he explained further.

"If I ever have to rescue you again, I don't want to have to worry about losing my head to _your _sword."

Gratifyingly, Inutaisho blushed.

"I agree... _sensei._"

A broad, toothy smile devoured Ryuukotsusei's sharp face. "Good. Pick up your sword."

"_Now?_"

"Something stopping you?"

"N-no, sir." The boy, still pale enough for every blue vein to show through clearly, picked up his sword in a shaking clawed hand and stood. "Ready whenever you are... _sensei._"

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

_Steel-pink dawns and ringing conflict. Booming voices and fierce ones, echoing through cavernous dewdrops. _

"Why are you traveling?" Ryuukotsusei asked his student one day.

"Why are you?" Inutaisho replied quietly-- and that was the end of that.

Most of the time, everything important to say could be said through the singing of folded steel and the harsh gasp of overtaxed breath. The other times, when the language of death was not enough, they stumbled around on tottering words and lost sight of whatever it had been that was so important in the first place.

The days were clean days.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

When next they saw each other, it was centuries later. The boy had grown and lost almost all of his gangly ungrace, and the dragon had gained something of sobriety.

_"Sensei!_" Inutaisho gasped, when he caught sight of the distinctive violet braids and flashing green eyes.

"Boy!" Ryuukotsusei cried, boisterously overjoyed to see his favorite pupil again. Then he stopped, perplexed. Something had changed-- the teasing nickname no longer felt right. "Inutaisho," he corrected, and frowned. Interesting.

The years had made them both more beautiful, but Inutaisho especially. Where before he had been all graceless limbs and awkward height, now he was exactly proportioned muscle and sinew. Where before his face had held something of childish softness and innocence, now there were only angles and strength. He was glorious in his adulthood, and Ryuukotsusei stood for a moment in silence to appreciate it.

He did not know what the years had done to him-- elongated lines that once were cramped, created lines and furrows where before there had been only carefree expanses of innocent skin. Change had not left him alone and unblemished, either.

"What are you doing here?" Inutaisho asked, once he found his voice.

"I'm an emissary," Ryuukotsusei answered with not a little pride. "My brother sent me to negotiate with the Westlord, your father. Inutaisho, have you been well?"

Inutaisho nodded shortly, then hesitated before saying quietly "As well as could be expected."

Ryuukotsusei raised an eyebrow questioningly. It may have only been a year, but he knew his student very well. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"Nothing," the bright-haired man-child answered, a little too quickly to be convincing. "Do not concern yourself with my problems."

"So you _do _have a problem," the dragon said with satisfaction. "Come on, let's go for a walk. You wouldn't have mentioned it if it you didn't want to talk about it, so let's go."

Accustomed from long months of training to obeying that voice without question, Inutaisho fell into line behind his savior and teacher with hardly a murmur of protest.

When they were far enough away from the compound walls to avoid eavesdroppers, Ryuukotsusei rounded on his pupil and narrowed his eyes. "Now, out with it!"

Inutaisho lowered his head and pretended to find the ground very interesting. "Honestly, _sensei_, it is nothing you need be concerned about. Family issues, that is all."

The dragon narrowed his eyes ferociously and cracked his knuckles. "I don't remember asking you if you _wanted _to tell me," he growled, low and dangerous.

Inutaisho gulped and tensed his muscles. "Like I said, it is nothing major-- my father did not take it too kindly when I vanished for a year without contact or explanation. He was most... displeased, when I returned at last."

_Displeased.. furious, more like. _

"And...?" Ryuukotsusei prompted. "Then what?"

"He beat me," Inutaisho said simply. "Of course. And ever since then, he has made his displeasure known at every possible opportunity. He was never one to praise me, but of late he has been almost cruel in his actions and attitudes. It is... distressing." The dog demon narrowed his eyes and stared into the sun. "I am sorry to have mentioned it. It does not involve you."

"Inutaisho."

"Yes, _sensei?_"

Ryuukotsusei looked away and thought for a moment before answering. "Do you deserve the things he says and does?"

Silver hair fell in a concealing curtain as the dog demon thought. "Well... not really, no."

"They _why," _the dragon snarled, seething, "do you allow him to speak to you like that?"

Inutaisho's head snapped up in surprise. "Why, he is my father! How can I speak back to him? It would be disrespectful!"

"He has done nothing to earn your respect that I can see, Inutaisho. Therefore, you have no reason to accord it to him. Listen to me." Striding over and seizing Inutaisho's shoulders, he stared deep into the anguished golden eyes. "No student of mine may bow down and accept such abuse to their honor. Stand and act like the man I taught. I do not know this sniveling weakling-- where is my student?"

"_Sensei_..." Inutaisho whispered, stricken.

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy. It only makes sense-- if he has done nothing worthy of respect, then you are under no obligation to reward him with it. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, _sensei!_ But..."

"I don't like that word. But, what?"

"But... I am not certain that I am strong enough to stand against him. If he should choose to retaliate..."

The sentence was cut short as Ryuukotsusei soundly cuffed the young man's ear. "Useless fear! If you can't even face _this _enemy, what are you going to do when something truly dangerous comes along? Cry and run for your mother's skirts? Come on, Inutaisho, I _know _ you're better than this."

A long silent moment, full of truth and fear and trust.

"Wait for me here?" Inutaisho said at last, quiet and resigned.

"Where else?"

That earned a smile, though a small and painful one. The dog demon straightened strong young shoulders and walked back the way he'd come. The dragon sat in the exact same place as he'd been standing in and waited.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

When Inutaisho returned, he was hardly recognizable through the swollen flesh and new, strange darkness of his aura. He staggered through the night-dark woods and fell brokenly into Ryuukotsusei's shocked arms.

"I feel wonderful," he croaked through a half-crushed windpipe. "I have truly never felt better." He slumped into the blessed oblivion, smiling all the way.

Ryuukotsusei curled around him protectively, blazingly proud and achingly helpless all at once. He had never thought it would go _this _far. The Lord of the West had a reputation for cruelty, but somehow the dragon had believed he would restrain himself when it came to his son. He'd never been so sorry to be wrong.

"Oh, Taisho," he whispered into bloodsoaked moonbeams. "I'm sorry, so sorry."

"Don't... apologize," a muffled voice answered, to his surprise. Apparently, the dog demon was not quite so unconscious as originally thought. "I told you, I feel wonderful. I stood up to him, and though he beat my body he could not reach the things that were important at all. He was... impotent. I was, in the end, stronger."

Ryuukotsusei thought he might burst with pride. Though the body of his beloved student lay broken, his spirit had been forged and sharpened into something beautiful by the event he'd just survived. "I'm proud of you," he said out loud, unable to restrain the burgeoning _thing _in his chest.

"Really?" Inutaisho said faintly. "That makes me very... happy."

"Idiot."

"Why? Praise from someone you respect should make you happy, shouldn't it?"

"You're all bloody and torn up because of what I told you to do, and instead of being resentful, you're _happy!_ Idiot!"

Inutaisho laughed painfully, and turned to rest his head on Ryuukotsusei's folded knees. The dragon threaded his fingers into the silver hair he loved so much and bit back tears.

"It does not hurt, not much anyways. Please, do not worry. A good night's sleep and I'll be halfway healed already."

"Idiot," Ryuukotsusei repeated half-heartedly. "You're so stupid."

"Yes," Inutaisho rasped. "By your definitions, very stupid indeed."

They sat that way for a long while, both breathing raggedly and fighting back the pain.

Inutaisho lifted a long pale hand and found the dragon's tanned and scarred one. "Your knees are more comfortable than I might have thought."

"Your head is less heavy than I might have thought," the dragon replied quietly, understanding.

"Ryuukotsusei," Inutaisho said. A first-- always before, he'd adhered strictly to the respectful honorific _sensei. _

The dragon stiffened a little at the sound, and closed his eyes.

"Can I stay here, just for tonight? For some reason, I do not want to be anywhere else very much, right now."

"I'm not going anywhere. Do what you will."

"Then I will stay."

And the dragon was glad.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

The next time they met, nine years later, there was nothing left of innocence in either of them.

"Ryuukotsusei."

"Inutaisho."

A long pause, while they ordered everything between them into a bridge and remembered how to cross.

"...Stinking lizard, where have you been?"

"Mangy dog! Conquering, of course! Where else would I be?"

They smiled and fell into being together because it was natural and right that they should.

"The world has grown boring indeed when I miss you, scaly worm."

"Ha! I felt no such weak emotion! You have grown soft, old friend!"

Inutaisho smiled, a secret, deep smile that Ryuukotsusei felt in the little tendons of his spine.

"Liar."

And he was.

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

**A/N-** There you go, Vega Sailor. Sorry for torturing you. I hope you liked it! As requested- love not lemons. And now, somehow, I am in love with this pairing. Pat yourself on the back for that, and for being an awesome reviewer and artist and friend and everything. You rule.


	4. Kitsune Kit

**A/N: **Okay! This story... is _insane. _Really really. And extremely twisted. If any of you like Sess or have problems with dominatrices, bondage,or exhibitionism... **_go elsewhere NOW. _**This is a total zany let's-torture-Sess fic. With crazy sick corruption and weirdness. Heh. By the way, it was a RIOT to write. Also, to avoid confusion... this is supposed to be humorous. Do not take seriously. Thank you.

Kitsune Kit-- don't hate me for this. I'll write you a more innocent, WAFFy type thing if you want. But I have to post this anyways because it's so funny. Forgive me!

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

**Thank You #4**: Kitsune Kit

**Show**: Inuyasha

**Pairing: **Sess/OC

**Lemon**: Yes... sort of

**Scenario**: She wanted Sess paired with a hanyou by Izayoi and another demon not Inutaisho. Check. She wanted it zany. Check. She wanted Sess-torture. Check. Mwahahaha.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**Strange Bedfellows**_

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

He met her shortly after Inuyasha' death and loved her on sight. Politics were easy to arrange to make a match make sense. She was mated to him a scant year after the first time they tore each other to contented bleeding shreds in the woods.

Youkai were like that... they fell fast and hard, and usually only once. Sesshoumaru was not an exception to this rule, despite being the exception to a great many others. And Kirei was Kirei, nothing more and nothing less.

Everyone admitted they were perfect for each other, even the ones who hated them. _Especially_ the ones who hated them.

_**I like your pants around your feet**_

Her hakama were pooled on the ground around her slim ankles as she posed for him. He loved it when she did that. "Turn around," he said quietly, and she did.

"How's this, Sesshoumaru my love?"

"Stay there a moment, Kirei."

She was magnificent in her nakedness, her hair (the exact shade of morning glories) holding a violent riot on her head as usual. The bouncy pale blue curls raged at the air, at the sun, at everything. She had _angry _hair, but her eyes of silver-grey were always brilliant and cheerful. It didn't hurt that she was soft and round in all the right places and smooth in all the others.

_  
**And I like the dirt that's on your knees**_

He watched her impassively as she sank to her knees before him. For some reason, she actually seemed to enjoy the act. Since he did too, he didn't see a problem. Except the obvious-- she was _hanyou _filth and not worth his toenails. For the thousandth time that day, Sesshoumaru cursed that damned human woman for her sin of whelping not one, which was bad enough, but _two _worthless half bloods. _Izayoi, I hope you burn in hell. Damn you! _

At the same time, he fervently blessed her for the one thousand and first time that day for giving birth to the goddess who currently had her pale hands wrapped around behind his rigid thighs. "Mmm," she said, and his eyes crossed.

Kirei was... Kirei. Insane, blue, and impossibly good with her mouth. She was Izayoi's daughter, but not nearly as irritating as her half-brother Inuyasha. Not nearly so...

"Sesshoumaru?" she gasped.

_**And I like the way you still say please**_

"Not yet. Keep going."

She smiled around him and began to purr. He swallowed the urge to howl frantically as she began to vibrate around his shaft. _Bless you, Kuhei you infuriating feline filth, for creating this madwoman. _"Nnnnnngggg."

_  
**While you're looking up at me**_

Her eyebrow rose in mute inquiry, speaking for her otherwise occupied mouth. _Good? _

"Nnnnggg. _Nnnnnngggggg. _Urk."

_  
**You're like my favourite damn disease**  
_

He surrendered and gave in to her. She squealed with feral delight as he fell heavily atop her on the wide bed.

"Who do you belong to?" she cooed while sinking her thin, needle-like claws into his shuddering back.

Silence, broken only by grunts and the moist sounds of skin on skin.

"Come on, say it! Who do you belong to?" Her claws sank a quarter-inch deeper and he gasped. "_Say_ it..."

Torn between pleasure and pain, as was always the way with her, he let go of the tattered remnants of his mind and hoarsely whispered "You."

She smiled widely. "Did you say something?"

He growled, but as always was helpless to refuse her anything. "Yours!" he gasped. "I am yours!"

"Damn straight," she said with satisfaction and twisted just... that... way.

This time, he _did _howl, then slumped atop her struggling for breath. "Good boy," she simpered, stroking his head. "Such a _good _boy."

"I hate you..." he groaned, trembling in the aftermath.

"_Sure_ you do."

_  
**And I love the places that we go**_

"Oy, Sesshoumaru," she called distractedly. He padded into the garden of the Northern Kingdom palace and looked around.

"What?" He simultaneously hated and thoroughly enjoyed visiting her family. Her family hated him, and she hated her family. It was always amusing, if not always comfortable or familial.

"Have we done it here yet?"

He stared at her. Eleven years, two months, and seven days after arranging his marriage to her for political reasons, she still managed to shock him on occasion. "You mean... _here?_"

"Are you dense? Yes, here. In this garden. Have we?"

"...No."

"You want to?"

_  
**And I love the people that you know**_

Every single person in the compound _had_ to have heard them, if not seen them. But no one said a word as they ravished eachother on the sun warmed stone centerpiece of the peaceful garden. The silent presences all around them seemed to spur her on to greater heights, rather than dampen her enthusiasm. Her fervour, in turn, heightened his, until they were both mindless with ecstasy.

"I had no idea you were an exhibitionist, my little puppy," she rasped.

"I am not."

Slyly, she cocked an eyebrow and leaned into his ear. "My uncle is watching through the crack in that door. Looks like he's enjoying himself..."

His eyes bugged and he exploded helplessly into her.

She laughed. "See? Told you so."

_**And I love the way you can't say no**_

The next day she was submissive again. Enjoying the respite, he tied her-- something she rarely allowed. Something about the sight of her helpless and bound drove him wild. On days like this, she never refused him anything he wanted. On days like this, when the wind blew from the sultry south, Kirei was capable of leaving him insensate for weeks afterwards.

_**Too many long lines in a row**_

He'd forgotten the script, but she didn't seem to mind. "I love you!" he howled.

"This is the part where you're supposed to hate me," she reminded him mildly.

"I really could not care less. I love you."

"For some reason, that works almost as well... say it again."

"I love you." And he did. She was insane, vicious, cruel and capricious, glorious and extraordinary in every way. He loved that she could surprise him, he who was so good at predicting people. He loved that he could not defeat her.

_**I love the powder on your nose**_

"Why do you wear that... slop?" he asked one night. "Your skin is perfect, there are no blemishes to cover."

"Because it pleases me." _  
_

_**And now I know who you are**_

"You only ever do things that please you."

"Of course. Is there another way to live?"

"...Not for you."

_**  
It wasn't that hard, just to figure you out**_

Now that he thought about it, she truly_ was _that simple. Given a choice, she would just choose to do whatever she felt like doing at that exact moment, and damn the consequences. It wasn't her decision making system that mystified him, that was clear and easy to see. She did what pleased her, and that was all.

What still eluded him was understanding of just _what _things pleased her in the first place. He was constantly shocked by the new things he discovered that made her happy.

_**And now I know who you are**_

Sesshoumaru reveled in his new, startling understanding of his strange bedfellow for the next few hours. So, she was simply hedonistic and anarchic in nature. That was not nearly so puzzling as what he'd thought before. Now all that he needed was to learn the twisting patterns of what she liked and what she didn't, and it would be smooth sailing from then on in.

_**  
It wasn't that hard, just to figure you out**_

"Sesshoumaru? You have a strange look on your face. Kami-sama drop Enlightenment on your head or something?"

"In a way, Kirei. In a way." She looked fresh and new to his eyes. The lines of her face made sense now, as did her hands on her rounded hips and the boastful arch of her spine.

"Tch. You're a puzzling creature. Thankfully I don't feel the need to understand you, else I might be vexed."

He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his chest. A slow smile spread from his face into her obnoxious hair. She squeaked in surprise when he did nothing further, only rested his hands harmlessly on her back. ****

I like the freckles on your chest

"How did you get these?" he asked, leisurely tracing the little dark spots that littered her otherwise perfect skin, between her breasts and across her nose. "Neither your father nor Izayoi have freckles."

"I have them because I want to have them." She would not answer any other way.

Little things, things he'd ignored for years. She had scars, all over her. He'd never noticed. They were fine and pale, but there were very many of them and they should not have existed. "And why do you have scars? You are hanyou, you should heal clean."

She sighed and turned away from him, curling in on herself protectively. "The answer to that is in the question; don't ask when you already know the answer."

Mystified, he furrowed his brow. "I do not understand."

"Idiot. I am hanyou. How could I _not _have scars?"

Thunderstruck, he buried his face between her tense shoulderblades. "You mean...?"

"Poisoned wounds do not heal. You of all people should know that."

_**  
And I like the way you like me best**_

"No."

He watched from around a corner, silent and impassive outwardly.

"Kirei..."

"I said _no. _Don't make me angry. You would not enjoy the experience."

The drunken youkai prince staggered and grinned lasciviously at her cold face. "Come on Kirei-chan, we've known each other since... like, forever. Why so shy?"

"It has nothing to do with 'shy', you disgusting idiot. Get out of my way."

Instead of doing the moderately intelligent thing and getting _out of the way_, the overconfident prince leaned in closer to whisper loudly in her ear."That mutt of yours can't possibly give you what you need. I know your tastes, Kirei-chan, and they don't run to ice princes..."

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. He disliked meeting her past lovers, they were invariably obnoxious, gluttonous morons and he hated every one of them for having laid even a finger on his wife. He was suddenly seized by the urge to eviscerate the whelp for daring to solicit her _now_.

He need not have worried.

"Close your mouth before you embarass yourself, Hakate. I told you to get out of my way. It was not a request."

"...And if I don't?"

Sesshoumaru's lips twitched helplessly. He knew what came next. The fool was overweeningly confident because he was full blood and she was not. Underestimating her was a mistake he had only ever made once, and he suspected it would be the same for this poor sod.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," she sighed, and moved. It was her gift, her talent; that impossible speed that made her appear to vanish whenever she used it. In hardly enough time to even _think _about blinking, the youkai man was flat on the ground on his back with the metal-capped heel of her clog bare hairbreadths away from his nose.

"Bitch!" he gasped, and Sesshoumaru winced from his vantage point around the corner as she coolly drove her foot home with a loudly audible _crunch_. The youkai screamed.

"Yare, yare," she murmured as she nonchalantly wiped her bloody sandal on the grass. "That was unwise of you. For future reference, I am well pleased with my mate. Far more pleased than I ever was with you. Disappear."

Around the corner, Sesshoumaru smiled helplessly.

_**  
And I like the way you're not impressed**_

_**While you put me to the test**_

"Too slow!" she cackled triumphantly... from behind him.

_Damn! _he thought, frantically whirling to meet her slashing attack. She may not have physical power to match his, but when she was that fast, she did not need it. If not for her always yelling whenever she attacked, she would have killed him dozens of times over already.

"Is this all you have?" she trumpeted. "You're dead! Again! How is it again the Inuyasha never managed to beat you?"

Gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes, he threw all of his energy into following her blurred movement. To his utter amazement, he caught her on his third lunge. She melted into his arms and smiled up at him. "Wow, I'm surprised. For that, you get..."

_Save me, for I am lost._

_**I like the white stains on your dress**_

He smirked all the way through the dinner.

She sat beside him cool as snow, seemingly oblivious to all the stares directed at her. More specifically, at her attire.

It had taken her months of cajoling to find a tailor willing to make the kimono for her, and a lot of money once she'd found one willing to do it. The pattern was not remarkable-- it was deep, deep gray, with splashes of white like it had rained bleach. The remarkable thing was the cut. It hugged her upper body and rested off her shoulders, leaving her entire throat and upper body bare to the tops of her breasts. She'd made it specifically to showcase the angry red mark on her throat from Sesshoumaru's teeth.

She was flaunting his mark of possession over her, or so it seemed. In reality, he knew it was actually the other way around. That mark on her neck meant that he'd claimed her, yes... but in reality she saw it as her ownership over _him_. Her triumph. A hanyou whelp, mated to one of the greatest youkai lords in the land. It was something she was secretly very proud of. And now, not so secretly.

Every eye in the quiet pub was glued to her bare shoulders, but for once he didn't mind. The mark would say everything that needed to be said.

_You are mine. _

__

And I love the way you pass the check

"Here, you pay," she said shortly when the maid came to collect for their dinner. "I don't want to."

"My pleasure."

She smirked. "Damn rights it is."

_**  
And I love the good times that you wreck**_

Kirei _loved _tormenting him like this. Lost in bloodlust, dripping with blood and agonized with the need to _ripkillrendteardestroy,_ he struggled frantically against her restraining arm.

"That's enough," she purred. "I want you to stop now."

He knew his eyes were red and his fangs were piercing his lip until he tasted his own blood. "No," he said, knowing all the while that it was hopeless. When she said to stop, he always did. Willingly or not. And gods help him, he loved even this. She always made it up to him for ruining his fun. Always.

_**  
And I love your lack of self-respect  
While you're passed out on the deck**_

"How is that you manage to get drunk? Even I have never been able to drink enough alcohol to overcome my defenses," he asked as he scraped her off the planks and slung her over his shoulder.

"Hanyou," she slurred, clothing in slovenly disarray. "S'easy... just drink the strongest stuff you can find as fast as you can until you fall over. Nothin' to it."

"Perhaps a better question is... why do you do it?"

She was quiet for a while, arms draped around his neck. Her breath reeked of sake and burned his nose, but strangely it was not unpleasant to him. Then... "Because it pleases me."

"Of course. What is the _other _reason?"

She smacked him halfheartedly, not really in any kind of control over her limbs. "Pushy, pushy. Bad."

Reaching their room, he laid her down and pulled the cool covers over her. Sitting next to her, he brushed her hair out of her face and touched her cheek. "Why do you stay with me?"

"Because..." she paused to yawn, "it pleases me."

He laughed softly and stood to leave her be.

"And..."

He froze.

"'Cause I love you. Mutt."

His eyelids drifted shut. She was insane and beautiful and he loved her to distraction. Hearing those words made him all too aware of the hold she had on his small, stubborn heart.

"Are you coming to bed, or not?" she asked muzzily, and reached for him. Even sloshed beyond reason, she was still strong enough to topple him into her arms.

"I love you, Kirei. Gods help me."

"I know. And they won't."

**_  
I love my hands around your neck_**

Sesshoumaru was _angry_. "Never," he growled lethally, "do that again."

Her wide eyes like autumn skies stared at him with fright. Kirei had been so confident of her hold over him. It had been a mistake. This time, she'd pushed too far.

"I tolerate your little games because I enjoy them also. But this... _this _I will not tolerate." He gestured to the trembling pair of minor youkai in the corner. One male, one female, both exceptionally attractive. They were naked.

"I'm sorry," she gasped. "I just thought... it might be fun..."

"I will not share you. Nor will I _be _shared. It is demeaning. Get them out of here and leave me be for the rest of the night."

"All right!" He released her throat and let her fall to the floor. She even managed to land in a crumpled heap gracefully. The pair, seeing they were not required, bolted, trailing the stench of fear. Kirei stood and faced him, pale but unbowed. "I'm sorry. I had no idea you would react like that. Will you forgive me?"

His hands twitched, recalling the feel of her slim neck between them. His eyes melted into crimson and he grinned ferally. "Perhaps. Not yet."

She understood. Loving a demon lord was not an easy thing.

__

And now I know who you are  
It wasn't that hard, just to figure you out

They had been together for half a century when they gave up on hurting each other and learned to be happy. He thought maybe he understood her, now. She thought perhaps she knew all his tricks.

They were both wrong. Love is a very strange and slippery truth to understand, so they never quite got it.

Thankfully, love did not rely on them to understand it. _It _understood_ them _well enough, and that was all that was ever necessary. It had seen stranger bedfellows than them, but never more interesting ones.

If love could be said to feel, it might have been wickedly proud of its work.

_**  
And now I know who you are  
It wasn't that hard, just to figure you out.  
**_

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

**A/N- **If any of you can still speak through the shock of getting this kind of thing from _me_, (of all people), leave a review. Or a flame... this is one instance where I really won't mind. I'll understand. !grins evilly!

Thanks for everything, Kitsune Kit! I love you! I hope you liked it! If not... I already told you to let me know, I don't mind writing another one! **_  
_**

The lyrics were from Nickelback's 'Favorite Damn Disease.' If you don't know it, go listen to it while you reread this. It'll make a lot more sense if you do. Trust me.


	5. Foodaddict

**A/N: **Finally got back to this. Sorry everyone. **Foodaddict, **this one's for you. I hope it's what you had in mind. Thanks for everything! You're an awesome reviewer and I love you!

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

**Show: **Fruits Basket

**Pairing: **Shigure/Saki (author shakes fist-- argh!)

**Rating: **T for swearing... I think.

**Lemon: **Sorry, foodaddict, I tried but it just didn't work. There is kissing though.

**Summary: **Saki's had it with this weirdass vibe the Soumas give off. She's getting to the bottom of it... one way or another. Important note: slightly AR, because I just _had _to have them hug even though technically he can't. Had to. So sue me. Pretend the curse is something else nasty and unspecified.

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**Kisstory**_

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Shigure smiled behind his hand as he walked sedately onwards down the lamplit road. New Year's Day. Big party. Lots of booze. Behind him, Yuki and Kyo ran frantically for home, for once not scratching each other's eyes out. What was waiting for them there was far more important than their petty bickering, and even they knew it.

He sighed morosely. _But nothing's waiting for me... except maybe Aya, but both of us know that's not going anywhere. Where are the mobs of high school girls when I need them? ...Not that there really ever are mobs of highschool girls. Sigh._

It was Momiji's turn to dance this year, and the cherub-faced little demon had been off the walls with excitement for weeks. Thankfully, Shigure had not been there... sometimes, having his own house was a real blessing. Also, there was no Akito in his house.

Despite himself, he shuddered at the thought of the younger man. There was something about him, not precisely evil but extremely unsettling, that made his company nearly intolerable for any but Kureno, and sometimes Hattori. It was in his cold, shuttered eyes, in the aching slope of his shoulders, in the way he languidly draped himself wherever the sun shone as though its warmth was all that kept him from freezing. Akito did not frighten Shigure, precisely, but he usually tended to watch his step around the head of the family.

_So even Akito has those two. Yuki and Kyou have Tohru, Kagura has Kyou to dream of at least, and Hatsuharu has Yuki to do the same. Momiji is just a lecher, he wouldn't settle for just one anyways. Kisa and Hiro have each other. Hattori doesn't want anyone. Ayame... I'm not going into Ayame. Ritsu is terrifying. And Rin isn't coming. _

He sighed again. Though he was glad that those two had finally gotten some sense talked to them and had gone where they belonged, with _her_, he couldn't help but feel a little left out. Everybody had somebody, these days, except for him.

_Is it just me, or am I becoming a whiner? ...Nah, must be my imagination. _

A sound behind him stopped him short. He smiled shortly, and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his kimono. "So, you didn't leave after all. I didn't think so."

"I only wish to speak with you for a moment."

He turned to face the deep violet eyes of the one person in the world that he was scared of, really truly piss-your-pants frightened of. Hanajima Saki. She obligingly looked as intimidating as he remembered her, dressed all in black with a dramatic cloak billowing from her shoulders. Her dark, slowly curling hair hardly moved in the wind. Shigure cringed and tried to make himself smaller.

"You know, you're almost as good a manipulator as I am," he chattered, trying to break the humming silence.

Not even a smile. _God. _

"Those two... have the same strange aura as you do. Hattori-san and Momiji-san had it too. Understand, I do not wish to pry, but it is my friend living in that house and that aura worries me."

Shigure could feel his face twitching as he pasted a fake, Hollywood smile on his face. "Why, Saki-_chaaannn_, I have absolutely _no _idea what you're talking about. Strange aura? I assure you, we're just _ordinary _men living _ordinary _lives in our _ordinary _little house eating _or..._"

"You cannot fool me. You may as well have 'lying' written across your forehead in red ink, Shigure-san. There is nothing 'ordinary' about you, or about the other two. What is going on?"

_Twitch. Twitch. _

"Saki-chan... urk..."

She may be younger than him, but he felt at no advantage. She was his equal, easily... if not his better. _Cringe. _More mature, for certain. And more powerful. He wondered idly if she was poking around in his thoughts at that moment, or worse yet, through his memories, and immediately regretted it as the blood drained from his face.

"What is the secret? What are these strange things I always see when I walk past Souma-kun? Or his cousin? Or you? I intend to discover the answer to this, and you are going to help me." The inflection of her velvet voice never changed, but he heard the threat as though she'd shouted or brandished something pointy and bloodstained.

He sighed. It was becoming a habit.

"I can't."

Her hair raised about her, and purple sparks danced behind her eyes. "You can. You will." She began to murmur things just below hearing, but his subconscious apparently picked them up clearly enough and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Images of red, gory death began flashing in his mind's eye, and all his nerves began to tingle. Her voice, inflectionless and smooth, continued wending onwards.

"I promise, it's nothing that will be dangerous to Tohru!"

_Er... well, not reallly dangerous. Just a little. Only if she comes near Akito. _

"That is not what I asked. Besides which, even in that pathetic answer there was only a sliver of truth. Shigure-san, I will tell you now that I am not leaving until you tell me. Do not think you will get out of this."

He sighed. Again. "I have an appointment right now... but I promise, I _will _tell you. Tea, next Tuesday? I promise not to skip, not much point since you know where I live. Either that or you could come to the house during school, if you can come up with a good enough excuse."

"I will do that. It is easier than it sounds. Tuesday morning, I will come. And there will be no more running away."

"Yes, ma'am. May I just say that you are possibly the scariest person I've ever met?"

Still no smile. "You may say it. At least it is not a lie. You lie too much." She turned and folded herself into the shadows as though she was part of them.

It was only with a valiant effort that he restrained himself from dropping to his knees. He felt drained, as though he'd just finished a strenuous session of... something...

_Er. _

The situation hit him like Kagura on a good day. He was going to tell someone about the Juunishi. Someone completely outside the family. Someone who could probably handle Akito even on a bad day. Someone they had no control over whatsoever. And there was no possibility of backing out now.

At least she was pretty.

He paused a moment to examine that extremely strange thought that had just popped out of nowhere. _Pretty? Well, I suppose... once you get past the freakish waves of terror that emanate off her. Her hair is nice when it doesn't resemble demon wings. And her eyes are quite lovely when they aren't reading your deepest secrets and threatening death and agony and myriad things involving hot wax. But when she's not..._

For the sheer joy of it, he decided to picture her without her psychic power.

_Let's see... what would she be like if she was normal..._

He froze. _Oh. Wow. _Flowing raven locks... crystalline purple eyes... fair, silky skin... a figure to kill for... _Oh. Ooohhhhh._

How had it escaped his noticed that she was a... was a... was a...WAS A... _oferchrissakes. She's a smoking hot high school girl, is what she is. But easily a match for me... superior to me... in the maturity department. High school girl! High school girl! A high school girl is coming to my house. To my house. My house. Oh my god! _

Looking furtively around to determine that no-one was looking, Shigure clapped his hands and joggled around a little in his version of the happy dance for a while. "High school girl... high school girl..." he chortled gleefully. "Super sexy high girl is coming to my house! Tra la la!" His old favorite song, with a bit of a twist. "High school girl..."

_Shigure-san... you cannot sing._

"Glmp!" he choked when an ethereal and terrifyingly familiar voice rippled through his skull. "Saki... chan?" He peered around him, neck creaking with suddenly rigid muscles. She was nowhere in sight. _Pyschic. Right. _His heart was thundering wildly. How had he forgotten how scary she was? "Scary," he echoed himself, reassuringly. "Scarier than Akito. Akito. Souma. Party. Ku_so!_"

He bolted down the street for the the party he was now probably late for. _Kuso! Kuso! KuSO!_

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

The house was perfect. And empty, which was also perfect. Shigure bit his lip and tried not to scream like a girl from sheer nerves. If Akito ever got wind of what he was planning, he was more than dead. He was slaughtered. Annihilated. Pathetic splattered roadkill on the eighteen-lane highway of Ohshiti'mdead. If Akito ever found out, Shigure decided then and there, he'd commit _seppuku _with a butter knife before the waifish head of the family could lift a skeletal finger.

The urge to scream became nearly overpowering. He held it back... held it back... tried to swallow it... thought about fluffy bunnies and highschool girls in miniskirts...

"Your fear is giving me a headache."

Shigure screamed and banged his head painfully on the roof. "S-saki-chan! Aha! Ha! Ha!"

She massaged her temples with long fingers. "That was unpleasant. Do not do it again."

"Then _knock _next time! Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to enter someone's house without asking permission!"

Hanajima Saki turned her blackviolet eyes on him, and Souma Shigure shut up. In every sense of the word. "No. She did not. I was invited-- there is no need to ask permission."

_It's only polite! _he said... or tried to. His vocal cords had turned into tree trunks in his throat. _Urk?_

"Sit down." She offered him a seat. At his own table. He repressed the urge to laugh hysterically and sat down. She sat next to him, leaning on the low table with her legs carefully arranged out to the side. "Tell me."

He tried, he honestly did. But his voice was stuck in his throat like Yuki's cooking and he couldn't for the life of him make a sound. Her eyes narrowed.

"Fine then. Just show me. " Without warning, she slid cool hands around his face and into his hair, and pressed her forehead to his. He jumped, then froze as his head turned inside out with a wrench. It was like having a movie pulled backwards, frame by frame, out of his eye sockets.

The entire sordid thing played out as he watched helplessly. The real reason behind Yuki and Kyou's endless rivalry. Hattori and Kana's heart-wrenching tragedy. Kisa's sorrow, Ayame's unique way of dealing with everything. The mental issues they all had. Akito and his deep, Stygian secrets. Akito himself.

Shigure shut his eyes and prepared to die.

"Oh," she said in a small and suddenly vulnerable voice. "Oh."

He cracked one eyelid to look at her. "Saki-chan?" Shigure's eyes flew wide open then and bugged comically. She was _crying_. Honest-to-god _tears _were streaking down her face, and she had the scrunched up expression and everything. Crying. For real. "Saki-chan!"

"I am sorry!" she gasped. "I should not have... it was not... I am sorry!"

Shigure scratched his head uncomfortably. He knew what she'd just seen... not only had he seen it too, he'd lived it. But he'd had all his life to deal with it, one day at a time. To have all that dumped on her at once... he resorted to habit and sighed heavily. "I tried to warn you."

"I... I... Shigure-san..."

He stared at her bemusedly. She wasn't in the least bit scary, not right now. In fact, she actually looked rather frightened herself. It was a lot to assimilate at once. He felt like hugging her.

Shigure was a person who often did things that he felt like, just because he felt like doing them. So before he could think about how stupid he was being or how terrified he was of the girl he was about to hug, he hugged her. Curled his arms right around her shaking shoulders and pulled her right in. _Well, this is not smart. Decidedly stupid, in fact. When she comes to she's going to turn my brain into quivering electrified jelly. But..._

She felt quite nice, huddled in his arms. Very pleasant. Even though her tears were very wet, and she was probably getting snot all over his favorite daytime kimono. Experimentally, he tightened his arms a little bit. She only cried harder and threw her arms around his neck.

"Ummm... promise not to squish me for this when you regain your senses?" he squeaked.

"Idiot," she muttered into his neck through her intermittent sobbing, "I haven't lost my senses. I'm a psychic, and I just got hit with twenty-odd years of sorrow and darkness. Of _course _I'm crying."

"I mean, for hugging you."

"I needed it. I will not hurt you."

He sighed in relief and rested his cheek on her hair. "Mmm. It's all good, then. Your hair smells good."

"Do not get any strange ideas. You would have to be courting me properly for me to allow you to say things like that."

He grappled with the sentence for a foggy minute. "You mean, I can say them... if I 'court' you?"

"Of course. Those are courting words, are they not?"

"Well, I suppose they are. I mean, I was flattering you, so umm... er?"

She was silent, shaking with the remnants of tears. He stroked her hair, and blessed all the known gods and some that were known only to him (and some he'd just made up) for giving him this opportunity. _No impure thoughts. No impure thoughts. Fluffy bunnies... fluffy bunnies... fluffy... Playboy... bunnies..._

"Rabbits?" she asked, sounding extremely confused.

Her sounding confused was possibly the most attractive thing he'd ever come across. Swamped in lust, he made a split-second decision he just _knew _he would regret later. She smelled too good, and she had cool powers. And she was gorgeous. Really, it all made sense in his head.

"Um!" he croaked. "Um, well then, if I... er... will you... uhhh," he paused and sucked in a lungful of breath. "Willyougooutwithme?"

"...Excuse me?"

"I mean, we're fellow manipulators! We mess with people's heads for fun! We should, uh, stick together!"

"...I do not understand."

Well then! 'Subtle and safe' hadn't worked. Time for 'brutally blunt and probably suicidal.' "Saki-chan, I think I like you."

Silence. _Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Ticktockticktockticktocktick. TOCK. _Shigure twitched and glared at the American clock on the wall.

_Godsdammitanyhow! Smash the clock! Hate the clock! Smash it! Smash it into little tiny pieces! Crunch! Bang! Springs and cogs everywhere! Dead clock!_

"You wish to court me?"

"Yes!" he blurted, insanely relieved that she'd finally understood his roundabout ramblings. "Yes, I would. Very much."

"...Why?" Her fathomless dark eyes were staring up at him, faintly puzzled. His head swam delightfully.

"Because. I admire you. Because you're beautiful. Because I damn well want to. I don't know. Will you?"

She leaned against him and appeared to think for a while. He turned to stone and felt pieces of himself flaking off every second she stayed silent. "You have... nice waves. Pleasant. Perhaps I will."

"Yes? That's a yes?"

"Yes."

_Kyah! Never mind that this is the most screwed-up, ungainly, gibbled, twisted relationship I know of. Never mind that I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to make this work. Never mind that I'm (blank)ing insane and out of my pretty, safe little tree. She's a sexy highschool girl and she wants me to court her. Okay! Yes! This is good! Good, dammit! _

_...I'm insane. _

"Tohru is going to pass out," he mused. She abruptly sat up and swiveled to face him again. "Is something the matter, Saki-chan?"

There was a glint in her eyes he didn't feel too comfortable about. He leaned back and felt his eyebrow twitch warily. She leaned forward and put her hands on her knees. She looked... speculative. "That reminds me..."

"Yes, Saki-chan?"

"There's something I have always wished to try, but have never found a pleasing opportunity for."

_Skinning someone? Seeing how long you can keep a torture victim alive and conscious before you lose them? Yet another method of painful, fiery death I don't know about? _

She planted her hands on his thighs, leaned forward, and pressed her lips to his.

_Shock. _

Not only was he not dead, he was kissing-- or rather being forcefully kissed _by_-- his new, sexy, highschool girlfriend. On the first... date. Thing. Maybe he was dead after all. And Christian. _Soooo... they had it right about the whole Heaven deal. Though why I'm here, I'll never know. But hey! I'm here! So time to enjoy the perks of being dead!_

Over his shock, he gratefully accepted the pension-plan-of-the-gods that had just fallen on his lap and kissed her back. She tasted like lavender and red wine, but somehow it was not an unpleasant combination. "Mm. Mmmmm. _Mmmmmm._" He'd discovered a slight... issue. Kissing Hanajima Saki, while a swimmingly fabulous experience, was hard work.

_Oxygen! Air! Must... breathe! _He pushed her back and sucked in a lungful gratefully. She looked at him quizzically. "Have to breathe sometimes," he explained ruefully. Apparently he was alive after all, with all the handicaps that go with it. Like have to breathe while kissing. _Damn. _

"Hn. Interesting," she said.

"Interesting?"

"Better than I expected. From you."

He recoiled as though mortally struck. "Saki-chan! Thou hast slain me!"

"You look alive to me."

He slumped. "_Figuratively. _Sheesh, don't you know anything about sarcasm or figures of speech?"

"...No. You may instruct me."

_Oh god. Now I'm doomed. It's like Sisyphus and the rock thing... I can't win. But hey! Sisyphus never got to kiss the rock! Well, he might have, but why? Sisyphus' rock wasn't young and nubile and female and unngghhhhh..._

"But first, I wish to try the kissing thing again. I am not satisfied."

"Sure thing!" _As if I'd say no to that! _

They spent long blissful units of time 'experimenting,' though with the last few functioning brain cells he realized that he could not go farther than that while she was yet so young. But 'experimenting' was damned nice, and he was quite, quite happy. Until...

"KYAHHHH!"

They fell off the table in a graceless tangle of thankfull still-clothed limbs.

"_Shigure!_" snarled a thunderous, extremely pissed-off voice. Somehow, Shigure found it in him to be relieved it wasn't Akito. The alternative really wasn't much better though.

"Yuki..." he started weakly. "I was... that is... we were... just, uhhhhhhh..."

"Hana-chan?" Tohru piped up meekly.

Kyou was not so polite. "_What the hell are you doing? On the table we eat on, no less! Ew! EwewewewEW!" _

"Kyou-kun, we were just..."

"Experimenting," Saki intoned flatly. "He is courting me. I was curious. Did you know that some people think that we learned the practice of kissing from watching monkeys? Others think it was the Romans. I personally believe that it came from prehistoric mothers chewing up food and pushing it into their babies' mouths with their tongue..." she prattled onwards, voice cold and smooth as black glass.

Four incredibly disgusted faces stared at her, but she did not seem to notice.

"You're... _courting _her? As in, dating?" Kyou asked bemusedly.

"Apparently," Shigure answered, equally bemused.

"Shigure," Yuki said conversationally, "you are an idiot."

"I know."

"...Roman leaders used to kiss their leaders upon greeting..."

All four simultaneously got images of kissing the Emperor and threw themselves flat on the floor to beg forgiveness. "Oh god..."

"...but it was the Indians who originally made kissing an erotic act..."

"Saki-chan!"

"...in a state in America it is illegal for men with moustaches to kiss people 'habitually'...

"Hana-chan! Please stop!"

"...in another state they must have a certificate saying they are free from all infectious diseases..."

"SAKI-CHAAAANNNN!"

"...What?"

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

**A/N: **Arigatou gozaimasu, **foodaddict-**chan. I actually enjoyed that quite a bit. Hope you did too.

And all you other lurkers, too. Drop me a note sometime, lurkers make me nervous!


	6. Nebride

**A/N: **Okay! Now for something a little... well, not really different. This is a classic love story, told over and over again throughout time and history. I have borrowed it and made it my own for the nefarious purpose of pleasing my beloved friend **Nebride. **

Two things:

1.) The wedding practices described in this are actually dated from about the fourteenth century, _not _the ninth BC when this story actually takes place. I couldn't find any reliable sources for the really really ancient practices, so made do with the earliest ones I could find. The one I chose, fourteenth century Shinto wedding, fit my purposes for this story best. So the historical discrepancy doesn't bother you history buffs, just pretend that demon practices are waaayyyy ahead of human ones. Their customs are different anyway, so it's not too much of a stretch. I hope.

2.) This is actually a side story to my larger Inuyasha epic, 'Once Upon an Inuyoukai.' The first italicized portion is actually an excerpt from Chapter 6 of that, and continues on from it. If you aren't following that story, then some of this won't make sense to you. For instance, Ryuunomei and his brother Ryuukotsusei are the main 'villains' of the other story. It's still readable, though, so don't let that put you off!

Without further ado, on with this tale of tragedy, woe, and romance. Yay. I hope you like this, **Nebride**! I love you!

OooooooooooooooooooO

Thank You # 6: **Nebride**

**Show: **Inuyasha

**Pairing: **Inupapa/Sessmom (Inutaisho/Mai)

**Scenario: **All she really said was that she wanted it to be romantic. :grins:

**Lemon: **No. I probably will eventually write some smut for them, but this is PG-13 for some violence.

**xoxoxoxoxoxox**

_**Historical Significance**_

**xoxoxoxoxoxox**

Irony was a funny thing.

The situation went like this: just as he'd finally made up his mind to want her after all, the world turned right around and smirking, balked him again in the opposite direction.

He thought back to when they'd met, promised blindly to each other and resentful of their captivity to duty.

_He smoldered in not-so-silent fury, glaring into his tall father's cold, narrowed eyes. "I was to choose! You promised I could choose my own mate, when the time came! Why have you broken your promise? And why her? You know I've never liked her, or her family. I don't understand!" _

_He was young, and volatile, and only just beginning to be allowed to make decisions for himself. That the privilege had been taken away so soon without explanation rankled more than a little. _

_"What about Umira? You know I only want her. I love her. She loves me. She'll be devastated if I'm forced to marry someone else." _

_His father's impassive face infuriated him. _

_"Answer me!" _

_The great golden eyes narrowed. "Do not be an idiot," the great demon lord bit out. "First, duty comes before love for the taiyoukai. If we are to avoid war with the Iruka clan, this match is desperately needed. Secondly, you do not 'love' your little half-breed toy. She is not pureblood inuyoukai, being tainted with wolfblood, therefore she is not suitable for you. You have had your fun. Now it is time to be a man." The tall silver form turned in the light from the open shoji. "Do not disappoint me with any more foolish rantings. You are my son. Do me proud." _

_Tears of frustration burned in Inutaisho's eyes, but he fiercely held them back as he watched his father leave and slide the shoji shut behind him. Then he let them flow, but only for a moment. Taiyoukai did not weep. _

_The shadow beyond the door paused._

_"She is waiting in the courtyard. Do your duty." _

_Inutaisho angrily dashed the wetness off his cheeks and stood, muscles clenched. "Very well, Father. Your will be done." _

_The fury was still there in his voice, but controlled. _

_Inumaru lingered a moment longer, then moved off. A silent Inutaisho followed sullenly into the bright sunlight of the courtyard. He blinked a moment, and then his eyes focused and he saw her for the first time since they had both been children._

_Gentle, honey coloured eyes regarded him calmly from beneath a thin veil. _

_Suddenly, all his ranting seemed childish and selfish. She stood with perfect grace, endless silver hair cloaking her shoulders, indistinguishable with the flowing white gown she wore. There were five freckles on her right cheek, but that was her only imperfection. If they could even be called imperfections, that was: even they seemed to contribute to the glory of the whole. _

_His eyes met hers... and Umira and his 'love' for her became distant, painless memories. _

_Had there ever been a time when he did not love this goddess? It was more that her physical perfection-- Umira had that too, all high-level youkai did. It was the golden light in her eyes, the tranquillity and warmth that flowed from them, and the deep pool of mischievous energy that lay behind the serenity. It was the way she stood, so sure of herself without being arrogant. It was the way she looked at him without the hatred that might rightfully have been there. It was the way she just _was_, without any falsity or deception. _

_"My lady Mai," he greeted her quietly. The expanse of courtyard between them had vanished, once upon a somewhen. He lifted her slim, unblemished hand and pressed his lips to it. "Have you been well?" Words. Stupid, meaningless, polite words. _

_She nodded and thanked him, but her voice was a silver rushing in his ears._

His goddess. His beautiful woman-child, his lady of corn.

A month.

That's how long the universe had allowed him to bask in the glory of his bright new future, before yanking it out from under his feet. Irony was a funny, _cruel_ thing.

He lifted the scrolled missive and slowly read it again, disbelieving.

_We write with the gravest news and heavy hearts._

_Princess Mai's elder sister Mirei has recently passed away due to a lingering illness which finally overcame her. Certain circumstances surrounding her death require that her younger sister assume her duties in her stead. Unfortunately, this means that her engagement to your son Inutaisho must be broken. This is truly regrettable for both of us, however it must be done._

_With deepest apologies,_

_Iruka Pobei, _

_Aide to Lord Iruka. _

The translation of the verbose missive was this: Mirei had been promised in a crucial alliance with the Lord of the East, and her death meant that Mai had to go in her stead to marry the Eastlord. The great family of the West was powerful, but as close kin of theirs not so much of a threat as the East was, and maintaining peace with them took precendence beyond a doubt.

His lovely wife-to-be was now promised to another. He fought the urge to shred the missive into ragged shreds, find her, and steal her away to live in the mountains as a hermit with him. _We'd have a garden, and whatever I could catch with my claws... and weave blankets of our shed fur for the winter... Stop. There is no point to this train of thought._

The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge of what would happen to her if he did so. If she refused to marry the Eastlord and absconded with him, she would be hunted down, shamed, and most likely either imprisoned or executed. Her rank lay across her slim shoulders like massive iron chains, threatening to break her if she did not move where they directed her.

Agonized, he chewed on his knuckles and stared sightlessly at the off-white scroll and its harsh black slashes of ink.

Over the past few weeks they'd spent a lot of time together, learning the contours of each other and planning a future together. A typical day involved them eating breakfast together, then wandering up to the shores of their favourite hidden mountain lake and talking the day away until the gathering darkness forced them to return. They would bring picnic lunches and dinners and eat whenever they felt hungry, content in each other's company.

The blazing shine of love-at-first-sight had faded, but been replaced with something much more satisfying. They knew now that they enjoyed each other's presence, and knew also that they would be able to live a life of several millennia together peacefully. It was a wonderful thing to understand.

Then, just when they had finally come to terms with everything their obligations had thrown at them, _this _had happened.

Behind him, he heard the _shoji _slide quietly open and powerful footsteps cross the floor. A strong hand descended onto his shoulder.

"Father," Inutaisho greeted flatly. Flat, flat, flat as missive written on a sheet of rice-paper.

"You will accept this," Inumaru said behind him in a deep, threatening voice. "You will do nothing. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly."

"Then you will let this go?"

Inutaisho turned around and met his father's narrow eyes. He said nothing.

Inumaru growled. "If you do anything, _anything at all_, I will disown you."

Silence.

The warlord snarled and stalked out. Inutaisho listened to him go and didn't care. Even if he had wanted to do something, what could he possibly do that would not endanger Mai?

And yet, he could not bear the thought of losing her to the cold dragons of the East. She would wither there, like a rose in shadow, denied the sun. The East was not a place for such as her. Away from his side was no place for her, period.

_She belongs with me. _

All of a sudden, the four thin walls of his room were far too small to hold him. He catapulted from his chair into a dead run, slamming the _shoji _aside and fleeing the compound of his ancestral home without a backwards glance.

At first he did not know where he was going. His feet did, however, and he soon found himself on the shores of _their _lake, staring glassily at the unruffled surface of the water. _I cannot let this pass unanswered. And yet, what can I do?_

His father had already seemed to accept the slight of the broken engagement, perhaps out of fear of an attack against him from the East. In any case, Inutaisho knew he would receive no aid from that quarter. Not that he ever had before.

He could not stomach the thought of thousands of years of life spent with anyone else, and could bear even less the thought of her spending those thousands of years in the arms of another. He was viciously jealous and did not care what others might think of his possessiveness. _She is mine! But... ah, but. There is always a 'but.'_

Inutaisho sat down on the grassy bank and sank his head into his hands.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

**Earlier**

OoooooooooooO

_If father finds out, I am a dead woman, _Mai thought fearfully. For the thousandth time that hour, she checked the glamour that concealed her features and made her look like a mere servant man, a messenger of no great importance. As it had been every other time, the lumpy, nondescript face was firm and unwavering. Nobody could possibly have seen that the ugly runner-servant was actually the beautiful Princess Mai.

The purpose of this elaborate disguise? Mai was going home to the arms of her love, and no such paltry thing as _duty _or _laws _or _filial piety _were going to stop her. They were destined for each other, and that was that. No arguments.

It never occurred to her that she was naive, or that her plan was sketchy and full of holes. It certainly never crossed her mind that any others might suffer because of her decision. Mai was a princess-- thinking of the wellbeing of others was not her strong point.

That was not to say she was a selfish person. She was in fact very giving and kind whenever the situation arose. She just did not know how to look ahead at the long term consequences. This shortcoming of hers would cause a great deal of misery, for herself and for everyone involved with her. At the moment, however, she was blissfully unaware of any of this.

_Time to go. _

Slinging her supply bag over her shoulder casually as she had seen the other mailmen do, she sauntered towards the castle gates. _Please don't notice. Please just let me through._

The guard stopped her.

Mai thought she might drop dead of terror. "G'morning," she slurred, careful to disguise her cultured palace accent.

The guard peered at her face scrutinizingly. "Are you new? I've never seen your face before."

She nodded. "Hired special to carry this," she said, bumping the sack on her shoulder. "Seems it's important. Goin' to the West, it is."

"Ah, I think I know what _that _is," the guard said with a dark grin. "They're not going to be very happy about that at all, now are they."

Suddenly, she found herself fighting off the urge to either cry or slap him. The contents of the missive were well known to her, as the concerned her and had been written because of her sister's death. His callous attitude grated on her. However, she had a mission and would not allow his cruel attitude to ruin it before it even began.

She forced herself to laugh. "Yeah, they'll be spittin' splinters for the next decade. Poor bastards."

Laughing, the guard waved her through. "Go on, then. Far be it from me to delay that letter!"

Mai tipped her conical hat at the guard and ambled out. The gate closed behind her.

Elation filled her. _I did it! I'm out!_

The horizon stretched out before her, inviting. The walk to the castle of the dog demons was a long four days. She was a sheltered girl who had never walked further than a few miles at once. She could transform and travel much faster if she wanted to, but word of an enormous silver dog galloping through the fields would give her away in seconds. It was essential that she maintain her disguise.

That meant walking the many leagues. She would be a mass of blisters and sore muscles at the end, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

_I'm coming, Inutaisho, _she thought quietly. _I hope this won't hurt you too badly. If it could be helped, I would, but it can't. You need to know._

OooooooooooO

She had met her second obstacle-- the guards at the dog palace. She was utterly exhausted and in sheer agony from her bleeding feet. "New boots," she murmured wanly as they stared suspiciously at her feet.

"For a messenger, you look pretty worn out. You new at this?"

"Yes, a little," she said truthfully. "I met some trouble on the road, too, and these bloody new boots are chewin' my feet off. You got a place where I can lay me down for a few?"

"What have you got in the bag?" the hard-eyed soldier asked.

"Message for the lord of this here castle. It's _important." _

Apparently she got the tone of the reply just right, because the guard seemed to hear an undertone to her voice that made him snap to attention. "Give it to me, then, and you go rest. The barracks are right over there."

_I know, _she resisted saying. _I know every inch of this compound. I was here just last week. _"Thanks," she muttered, shoved the scroll into the guard's hands, and stumbled off towards the barracks.

She had to give Inutaisho time to read the missive and run for the lake, so she had time to rest her body. Gratefully she sank onto the closest free pallet she could find and closed her eyes.

OooooooO

It was several hours later when she awoke, and the sun was sliding helplessly down the outside curve of the sky.

Panicked, she checked the glamour, and was relieved to find it still firmly in place. Setting her hat firmly back on her head, she raced on screaming feet for the forest outside the compound.

_I won't marry Ryuunomei. I won't! He's so cold and impersonal... and I sense cruelty in him. I know it's a betrayal of my family, but I just can't! I want to be with Inutaisho. He's a good alliance too, and the one I was promised to in the very beginning anyway. He's supposed to have me. So why shouldn't he? Why should he get short-changed just because my father sees fit? _

Deep down, she knew she was being selfish, but didn't really care. Selfishness was not always a negative thing-- she was a living being, and giving her entire life to a loveless marriage merely for political convenience was too great a sacrifice to ask in these peaceful times. There was little danger of a war anyways-- they did not really _need _such a strong bond between the lands. Another daughter of lesser rank would suffice.

Or so she told herself, repeating it over and over again in her mind to chase away her lingering doubts about the rightness of what she was doing.

Every step through the untamed forest of the foothills was tearing agony to her feet and ragged muscles. She stumbled every second step, barely conscious. The glamour, however, stayed firmly in place. Not until she was all the way there would she risk letting it down. Not until!

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

He was so lost in thought and deliberation, he did not even hear the person's approach until they-- he-- was nearly upon him.

"Inutaisho," he rasped exhaustedly.

He rocketed to his feet and stared at the swaying figure in consternation. It was a ragged messenger, obviously exhausted and in much pain. What was he doing up there? Inutaisho was fairly certain nobody but him knew of the location of the little lake. That, combined with the lack of an honorific, alerted him that something was up.

"Who are you?" he barked. "What do you want?"

The man stared at him blankly. "Inutaisho...?"

"And why do you call me so familiarly?" he snarled, hand falling on the hilt of his short dagger. He sensed no danger from the man, but felt better when he had a weapon in his hand regardless.

"Don't you... recognize me?" The man sounded desolate and confused.

Inutaisho was just as confused. "Recognize you? A messenger boy from a foreign castle? Why would I?"

Suddenly, light dawned on his face and the man launched into a shocking array of curses. "Be_damned! _I forgot to take the glamour off!" He pulled the hat off and threw it to the ground, then formed a complex series of finger-symbols almost faster than Inutaisho could follow.

_Magic? What? _He drew the dagger and held it in front of him, fully on his guard.

The man's outline began to blur, and his scent changed dramatically... to one Inutaisho knew very, very well.

_"Mai?_" he asked incredulously.

And indeed, once the transformation was complete, it was his silver-haired maiden that stood before him decked in men's clothing and dirty-faced. "There," she said breathlessly. "I am sorry about that. Naturally, I could not travel all this way with my own face. I would not have made it past my own gate!"

He was astounded, and completely thrown off balance. Mere hours ago he had been reading the missive that said she was never to see him again and would be given to another. Now, here she was, tired but elated, smiling at him .

_What's going on?_

Heaving an enormous sigh of relief, Mai sank to the ground in a graceful slump. "I made it. I can hardly believe it."

"Mai..." he whispered, then catching himself, spoke more strongly. "Would you mind explaining what the _hell _is going on here?"

She blinked up at him owlishly, obviously deeply pleased with the success of her venture. "I disguised myself, replaced the messenger who was supposed to carry the missive, and came to you instead. I will not marry Ryuunomei. I will only marry you."

The sheer enormity and naivete of her words bowled him over, and he fell to his knees in pure shock. "You... what? _What?_"

She frowned prettily. "Did I explain it badly? I am sorry. "

"No, I think I understand _what _you did... my question is, _why_? Are you _insane_?"

His heart was at war with itself. On one side, he was deeply moved by what she'd done for him and what her act indicated-- she wanted to be with him, and was willing to go through suffering and fear to do it.

On the other, he saw that this would be seen as an act of rebellion by her family-- and that she would be in deep trouble for it-- and was very afraid of the outcome of the situation.

"Inutaisho?" she whispered, taken aback by the harsh tone of his voice.

"Do you realize what you are doing?" he snapped, his fear winning over his joy. "As soon as your family finds out about this, they'll hunt you down and you'll become a disgraced prisoner. You'll suffer, and then possibly die if they see the situation as unsalvageable. At the very least, you'll be disowned and exiled. At the worst, you'll die and the Eastlord will use the insult of your refusal as an excuse to start a war us in the West. You may have just..." He stopped.

She was crying, silently, hair curtaining her face.

"Mai? Oh, Mai, I am so sorry. I am just afraid for you, is all. You may have just caused your own death, and I cannot bear the thought of that. Ahh, you silly woman. Come here." He knelt and enveloped her in a deep embrace, pressing his lips to her hair and tangling his fingers in it.

She lunged and wrapped her arms tightly around him, sobbing into his chest. "I did not... did not think," she gasped. "I did not think about the possibility of war! I only thought... oh, Inutaisho, I am _so sorry_!"

"Hush," he murmured, heart breaking at what he knew he must do. Every cell in his body screamed at him to take her away and never let her go, but... He was a practical man "It is not too late. If you go back now, you can convince them that you merely wished to bid me farewell. Everything will continue as though nothing happened."

She stiffened beneath him, as he'd known she would. "What are you saying?" she sniffled, hurt. "You do not want to be with me?"

His breaking heart splintered and drove into the walls of his chest. "Oh, _gods, _Mai, that is not it at all! I have been thinking about this for the last several hours and I just do not see any way for us to be together in practicality."

"Really?" she gasped painfully, a hurtful chill in her voice: "Not even _one_ way? I will do anything, Inutaisho, even leave the island if I must. I will leave behind my title and royal life without a second thought. Do you think I need everything to be perfect? I do not! All I want is to stay with you, wherever I can!"

His eyes burned and his lacerated chest constricted. "Mai... even so, they will hunt us down. We would never be safe. I cannot bear the thought of you living in fear for your life all your days. Please, my love..." he paused, gulping back the bile rising in his throat, "...go home, and go through with your family's wishes. It is best for everyone if you do."

"I cannot believe you are saying this," she wailed. "I came all this way, and you are going to turn around and send me back?"

He could hear her silent plea not to send her away, not to leave her alone. It tore him to shreds, but he could not give in. The stakes were too high. "Mai, I am sorry," he whispered.

She pulled away, shaking, eyes full of betrayal. "Then I will go," she said, voice suddenly remote and distant, "since you obviously do not want me to stay."

She turned and began walking back to the forest, fists clenched at her sides and shoulders hunched.

He wanted so badly to run to her, turn her around and kiss her until the stars rose above them. The impulse was so powerful that his skin was nearly tearing itself off his obstinate bones, but he knew that if he did so he would never have the strength to send her away. And send her away he must. For her own good, and that of their countries.

She paused and turned her head back. Silver trails of tears clawed their way down her reddened cheeks. "Fare thee well, _Lord _Inutaisho."

The honorific hit him like a hammer to the chest.

Mai kept walking, and did not look back.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

Insultingly, they received the invitation to the wedding in the mail barely a week later.

_To the Inu Family:_

_It is our great honour to invite you to attend the wedding of the Lord of the East, Ryuunomei the Strong, to the daughter of the esteemed lord from the West, Iruka Mai. The wedding will take place on the night of the first full moon of autumn, a most auspicious date, at the ancestral Dragon Palace. Gifts are welcome and appreciated._

_We hope to see you there._

_Ryuu Yema,_

_Secretary of State Affairs_

_Ryuu Family_

Inutaisho read it once, then left it on the table and went to the lake.

_I am not really considering going, am I? Am I mad? _

_I cannot believe they actually invited us. It is incredibly callous, considering the situation. _

_Could I handle watching her being given to him?_

_No._

_A hundred, thousand times no. _

_And yet, if I do not go, they will see it as an insult and cause difficulty for us. What should I do? _

He knew that by now the engagement ceremony would be complete, drinks and gifts exchanged and promises made. For all intents and purposes, the engagement was now unbreakable. It was too late to protest the union, now.

_You're really going to let this go? _a voice in his head said accusingly.

_Hello, conscience, _he replied wearily. _I do not want to, but what else can I do?_

_Take her back._

_And risk war?_

_Is she not worth that much at least? _

_I cannot be the cause of so much suffering. Not for my family, nor for hers, nor for all the people who would die in such a war. _

_If they start a war, then that is their choice. You could not blame yourself for their stupidity. _

Inutaisho was at a loss. What his conscience said made sense, but everything he'd been raised to believe was throwing itself against what he wanted to believe.

_Could this really work out well? I cannot help but believe that is could only end badly if I am selfish enough to..._

_It seems she has no problem with that. She is willing to risk everything-- how can you call yourself a man if you are not willing to do at least as much?_

_That is a low blow._

_You do it to yourself. _

Was it just him, or did his own inner self sound smug? This entire situation was driving him literally mad. He had to come to a conclusion, and soon, else...

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

**Autumn**

OoooooooooooooooO

Mai was a ghost.

Her blood still rushed thinly through her veins, her muscles still moved when her mind ordered them to, but she was dead. She felt nothing, not the wind on her face or the taste of _sake _on her tongue.

It was much easier to be dead than to feel and suffer.

"Mai, child, it's time now," the maid coaxed. "Won't you help me even a little? This dress is unwieldy."

Woodenly she moved her limbs where the maid directed. She did not feel the fabric sliding over her skin, or see that it was white. Dead people did not understand colour.

The maid quickly, expertly draped her in her wedding gown, cinching it with a long _obi of _purest white. The she moved on to Mai's hair. It probably took hours, all the preparation, but Mai had forgotten how to tell time, so it did not seem like very long at all before the maid was leading her by her limp hand down the hallway towards the courtyard where the wedding would be held.

The farewell party from her family had already been held-- she remembered little of it but glowing lights and raucous voices raised in celebration.

Now all that was left was the ceremony itself-- a few sips of sake, a few words, and she would be condemned to centuries, _millennia, _of this same soul-dead existence. Since she was already dead, she did not care overmuch.

She walked out the door on stick legs, jerky as a puppet.

Ryuunomei was already present, kneeling before the Shinto priest in the white _hakama _pants that had been her family's gift to the wedding, as per tradition, and a long _kimono _overcoat, also white. His deep violet hair was properly restrained in a knot behind his head, and his green eyes were politely lowered. Colourful rice-paper lamps hung cheerfully about the courtyard.

She could see the three _sake _cups, already filled. They were all of different sizes, arranged smallest to largest, red lacquered on the inside and black on the outside. They looked hellish to her dim eyes, speaking of flame and shadow.

Mai hobbled up the towards the shrine, slumped as an old woman.

Then, unexpectedly, a brief flash of silver hair in the silent crowd.

She woke up and stopped dead in the center of the aisle. Her limbs, returning to life, felt the early autumn chill and she wrapped her arms around herself as she searched for that elusive hint of pale silk.

_There! _

Alas, it was only Inumaru, her beloved's father. But it had been enough to break her stupor.

_What am I doing? _she thought, suddenly horrified. Her legs began to move again, on their own, carrying her towards the thin, pale figure at the end of the aisle.

At the end, she knelt opposite him and bowed her ornament-laden head.

The priest intoned something to Ryuunomei that involved his commitment to her. He clearly spoke his assent, sounding insufferably bored.

Then the priest turned to her, face impassive and distant. Mai was lost in horror.

_What do I do? I cannot say no! But neither, oh, neither can I say yes. What can I possibly do? It is far, far too late for this. What have I done? What am I doing?_

The silence itched, and she realized that the priest was waiting expectantly for her reply. The polite, fabulously dressed crowd held their breaths and laced their fingers anxiously together.

_Inutaisho! Help me! _she thought desperately.

"Mai-hime?" the priest nudged uncomfortably. "Are you quite all right?"

"No," she said, and it was an answer to both questions.

"Excuse me?" the priest said, confused. "Is there something I can do to help you?"

"No," she said again, tasting the word. "No!"

"No _what?_" the priest whispered fiercely, highly unsetled by the turn of events.

"No, I will not. I refuse,." she cried clearly, loud enough for everyone to hear.

The crowd gasped, and Ryuunomei's sharp jeweled eyes narrowed furiously.

"Reconsider your words, my sweet," he murmured coldly. "If you continue on this path, you will lose everything. I swear it."

_Good, _she thought giddily, and smiled broadly. "No!" she sang. "I cannot, within my honour, agree to marry you, good Lord. Upon my engagement with the prince of the Dogs, I committed to that course and find it terribly dishonourable to commit to you without his dispensation. I was destined for marriage with him, and this hasty course correction rankles on my sensibilities."

"For gods' sakes, woman, why didn't you say something earlier than this?" the priest hissed.

"That is patently ridiculous," Ryuunomei said nearly on top of him.

"Nevertheless, it is my decision. I will not-- _cannot--_ marry you. You may do with me what you will, but I will not decide otherwise."

She stood on the edge of death, and had never been happier. Her conscience was crystal clear.

The dragon's face blackened, then snapped. "Then I shall kill you!" R yuunomei howled, utterly enraged. He drew back his arm, claws lengthening and gleaming in the lamplight.

She closed her eyes and smiled. _Inutaisho... I love you. I am sorry I could not go through with this travesty, even for you._

The deathblow never came. Instead, somewhere above her head was a dull thud and the sounds of struggle. She cracked an eye and was astonished to find Inutaisho, brilliant hair drawn back into a tight battle queue and bedecked in full armour, wrestling with the furious and stunned Ryuunomei.

The world made a flying leap from darkness to brilliance and Mai shrieked with unbridled joy. Despite the ferocious battle taking place, she suddenly felt as though everything would work out perfectly. All her anxiety and fear and disgust dissolved into light and joy.

_In the crowd, Inumaru saw his son descend like a glimmering comet and knew a moment of pure elation. His childhood had been shaped around stories like this. However, moments later, reality set back in and the rage hit him at his son's disobedience and foolhardy actions... but for just one, shining moment, he was more proud of his son than he had ever been_.

"Let go of me, you little heathen!" the dragon lord snarled, full in the grips of true demonic fury.

"Do not _ever _lay a hand on her," Inutaisho bit back, voice low and lethal and golden eyes flashing.

"She is my wife! I will do as I please!"

"She is not, nor will she ever be. Did you not hear her refuse?" There was a deep resonance in his voice as he said that, and Mai shivered with pleasure.

There were very good reasons why she loved her dog lord, and this was one of them.

"Do you wish to start a war?" Ryuunomei thundered, scratching viciously at the dog prince's face with a hand he had finally worked free. Inutaisho did not budge as four bloody furrows carved their way across his cheek.

"You may start one if you wish. I will fight. I cannot, despite my best efforts, condemn her to an unhappy life with you. She deserves to be happy. If you are man enough, I challenge you to let this go gracefully and seek a wife who is more able to commit to you."

"As though I would ever let such an insult go! This will mean war, boy. Be warned."

"_Inutaisho!" _a powerful voice howled across the courtyard, and he cringed. "What is the meaning of this?"

His father.

"I cannot in clear conscience allow this to continue," he said calmly, though Mai knew he was shaking inside. She stood on quivering legs and gently separated the battling demons.

"Neither can I," she said softly, but clearly. "I cannot marry Lord Ryuunomei. He deserves a more faithful wife."

"Mai!" a woman cried, distraught.

Her mother.

"I am sorry, Mother," she said. "I know you are ashamed of me, but I simply cannot."

"I am sorry, Father," Inutaisho said. "I know I will be punished for this, but I could not allow it."

"How dare you!" Ryuunomei raged, and lashed out randomly, scoring bloody hits against both of them before they could stop him. His fury was an incandescent thing-- he was beyond reason, beyond thinking. In later times, such a person would be called a 'berserker'-- now, they did not yet have a name for it, but feared it nonetheless.

The time for action had come-- it was stay and die, or run and live for a while longer.

"Mai," Inutaisho said. "Are you coming with me?"

"Yes," she answered simply, and that was that.

VvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvV

**After**

OoooooooooooooooooooO

_I suppose you're wondering what happens then, am I right, dear reader? Perhaps I shall tell you. Or perhaps not... this old exoskeleton of mine is tired. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to write letters big enough for humans to read when you're a flea? Do you? Hmm?_

_Hmph, I doubt it. I shall have a good sulk about it later, I think. Perhaps now?_

_Ah, well. I am not cruel enough to leave you in suspense. Thus, this is what happened after my lord's triumphant rescue of his swooning maiden-bride:_

_They returned to Inutaisho's home to await the judgement of their families. Personally, I think this was a very unwise decision but then again, I was not born yet to advise them better. What can you expect from a couple of hair-brained, tongue-lolling idiots? I loved them dearly, the both of them, don't get me wrong. They were just not the smartest of people. Anyway!_

_Their parents were understandably quite upset and they were severely punished. However, secretly, neither family had truly wanted to match to be broken off and were quietly glad that it had been... reinstated. By the way, those last two sentences contain a few stunning understatements. Can you guess where they are?_

_Ryuunomei, contrary to expectations, was quite ready to just forget the entire incident and go back to life as usual. His younger and decidedly more militant brother, however, was not so forgiving._

_Ryuukotsusei, as his name was, convinced his reluctant brother to retaliate against the families of the West for their grave insult to their honour. I shed no tears for him when Inuyasha, Inutaisho's brash young son, recently did him in. Ryuukotsusei was an arrogant hotheaded whelp and caused a great deal of totally unnecessary pain for both sides. Harrumph. He sure got what was coming to him, yes he did! _

_Continuing... _

_Thus began a feud that would last for nearly two millennia, and its history came to be painted in blood-red and ash-black. Its end came in a final confrontation between West and East, once again over a woman, this one a human and as dark as Mai was fair. I tell that story elsewhere, at length. _

_Inutaisho and Mai united their clans and ruled the West after the demise of Inumaru-- shortly after the incident described in this story-- in a vicious border skirmish against the East. He died at Ryuunomei's hand, thus intensifying the feud yet further._

_Mai bore one son and one son only, who she named Sesshoumaru with her dying breath. His story is also long and interesting... I will get around to it someday. Not here. _

_And lastly..._

_Five hundred years later, a certain Dog Lord met a certain black-haired human woman. What is it with him and stormy, difficult relationships? Why couldn't he just settle down with a nice, quiet woman and live his days out in peace? Ahh, I suppose that is not the sort of man my lord was. He needed a challenge to be happy. He snatched my lady Mai right from the jaws of despair, and Izayoi was no different. _

_He met her after a slaughter, appropriately, bathed in blood in true Lord-of-the-West style. _

_She didn't faint._

_As they say (far too frequently, in this crotchety old flea's opinion)--_

_The rest is history._

**XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

**A/N: **Well? I had fun writing it. I'm a romantic at heart and I just _love _a rescue scene. Star-cross'd lovers and whatnot turn my crank like whoa. Thus, I was squee'ing every few lines as I wrote this. Yay for classical romance!

I love you, **Nebride**!


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